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Louis Pappas Market Cafe to open in St. Petersburg

The restaurant will be the seventh in a line Pappas has built since selling his popular Tarpon Springs business.

By SHARON L. BOND
Published February 14, 2006

Restaurateur Louis Pappas is opening another Louis Pappas Market Cafe, this one in St. Petersburg.

The cafe, along with Personal Touch Catering, is at American Legion Post No. 14, which is in a complex of three buildings at 1520 Fourth St. N.

The post sold the north building in that triplex to former St. Petersburg City Council member Larry Williams years ago. He intended to sell it but agreed to lease it to Louis Pappas for a cafe.

Pappas and his family owned the well-known Greek restaurant with his name in Tarpon Springs until three years ago, when he sold it. That restaurant now is closed.

Pappas said he wanted to continue to cook, so he built a kitchen in an industrial area in Tarpon Springs and began to open the market cafes, which serve Greek food, takeout items and specialty oils, peppers, cheeses and wines. The one in St. Petersburg will be the seventh, and it will feature specials each month that include some of the dishes popular at the Tarpon Springs restaurant, such as lamb stew.

"I looked forward to being down there," Pappas said of St. Petersburg. "We are not quite a fast casual (restaurant), but we are not quite full service." It is more a restaurant than market, though, he said.

The restaurant will have 3,500 square feet and seat from 75 to 100 people, Pappas said. It should be open in 31/2 to four months.

Personal Touch Catering left Mansion by the Bay in January. It serves dinners at the American Legion post several nights a week. As of Monday, Personal Touch will serve lunches of soups and sandwiches. Those meals are open to the public.

"My husband did not want to retire," said Midge Trubey, who with husband Ray Decker was running the catering business.

[Last modified February 14, 2006, 02:45:31]