Homestyle fare and fine dining merge at Effie's
By Suzanne Cristallo
Expect to be greeted at the door of Effie's Coffee Shop by owner George Skyllas, his wife, Julie, or their daughter, Nicki. It's that kind of place--homestyle breakfast, lunch and dinner, hot fresh coffee, big steaks and cozy corner booths.
While it's in Campbell, geographically, Los Gatans consider it theirs. On Winchester Avenue just a short distance north of the town limits, it faces Hacienda Avenue, surrounded on two sides by percolation ponds where ducks mill around. Big yellow umbrellas shade a new outdoor eating patio across the front.
Built around 1960, Effie's has been known over the years as Forenzia, Vercelli's, Anton's, The Hitching Post and Broadway Joe's. While it's a coffee shop during breakfast--starting at 6 a.m. with big platters of pork chops, eggs and hash browns made from scratch that morning--it also is a fine dining restaurant that prides itself on its service and specializes in pasta, veal, prime rib and seafood dishes.
"We don't discriminate. We have a little of everything," says Alex Kaldis, a partner with Skyllas and Kaldis' brother Gus. The trio has owned Effie's since 1988 and four other restaurants since they arrived in the area in 1978. Three of them have since been sold, leaving them with Effie's and The Cozy, a San Jose eatery on The Alameda they have been rebuilding since a fire. The purchase of another restaurant is in the works.
"That will leave us with three restaurants--one for each of us to run," Alex says. "We like to be hands-on."
Hands-on is what George is at Effie's, considered to be his place among the three. He fills in wherever his staff of 20 needs help: tending bar, hosting, busing, purchasing and cooking. Designing the menu and creating the specials of the day is his forte. Sauces are his signature. The Gourmet Fillet, a big seller, is made with a bleu cheese-pecan sauce and is wrapped in Italian bacon.
Lobster Bianca gets its name from the white cream sauce George makes along with the New York steak he dresses with a peppercorn sauce. "Everything's from scratch," he emphasizes, "even our Hollandaise sauce, which I make every morning."
Effie's has a plush, Old World feeling with its gold-framed paintings, floral carpeting, deep upholstered chairs and a mirrored ceiling that reflects tables dressed in peach linen. A built-in refrigerated display case entices entering diners with a trove of rich desserts: cheese, cream and chocolate cakes with six layers reaching 10 inches high. A darkened lounge, separate from the dining area, houses a full-service bar.
George, now 52, left his birthplace on the Greek island of Kalymnos, "where the sponges come from," when his father sought work in the coal mines of Belgium to support his eight children. From there, the family emigrated to French Canada where, George says, he paid his dues in the restaurant business by busing tables. He also worked as a plumber, eventually meeting Alex, also a Greek native and the manager of a plumbing company.
"He obviously saw I was a neat guy," George jokes, because Alex fixed him up with his sister. The blind date led to marriage with Julie and their move to California--for the weather--where George, then 28, teamed up with the brothers Alex and Gus to buy their first restaurant. The three have been together ever since. "When it stops being fun, that's when we'll be out of here," Alex muses.
Effie's Coffee Shop, 331 Hacienda Ave., Campbell. Open 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Sun. 374-3400.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
