SFA | Projects | Birmingham Greek Oral Histories

“They believed in family back then, you know, more than we do right now, really. And [my father] got to go back [to Greece], and then he never come back. He always want[ed] to come back. He loved this country. That’s why me and my brother came right here because…he push us.”
--Theo Hontzas

Theo Hontzas arrived in Birmingham from Greece in 1958, when he was twenty-five years old. His brother, Gus Hontzas, was already here running Niki’s West, and so Theo spent his first year in Birmingham working with his brother, hoping to make some money and then head back home to Greece. Soon, though, Theo found a restaurant to call his own, and the Hontzas family dug its heels even deeper into Birmingham’s restaurant history. The Smoke House had been open for a while as a short-order place, but Theo saw the opportunity to make it a family business, serving fresh vegetables and a few traditional Greek items that rivaled the menu down the street. And with fresh produce available right next door at the Farmer’s Market, it was a match made in Heaven. Theo is retired now, and his son Pete (first cousin to Pete C. Hontzas down the street at Niki’s West) has taken the reins. Stop in for the Greek-style fish or chicken and as many vegetables you can fit on your plate.

Edited Transcript

What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click this link. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)

Subject: Theo Hontzas, owner
Date: March 12, 2004 @ 10:30 a.m.
Location: The Smoke House
Interviewer: Amy Evans

Amy Evans: This is Friday, March twelfth, two thousand and four, and this is Amy Evans at the Smoke House Restaurant with Theo Hontzas. Mr. Hontzas, would you mind stating your full name and your birthdate for the record, please?

Theo Hontzas: Uh, Theo Pete Hontzas. Uh, twelve, twenty-eight, nineteen thirty-three.

Okay. And your family came from Greece when?

From Greece? Well, my father came, uh, [short pause] nineteen fifteen, I’d say. Yeah, you know. Right—

And your father—

--earlier than me.

What was your father’s name?

And he went back. P--Pete Hontzas. And he went back and, uh, brought his brother here—which is, uh, John Hontzas. He’s in Jackson, Mississippi.

With John’s Restaurant?

With Joh—yeah.

Yes. Okay.

John’s Restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi. Of course, he’s dead now, you know, it’s been quite a while, you know. Yeah. And then he has, uh, three kids in Jackson. Yeah, of course they’re not in the restaurant business no more.

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yanni1 And then, uh, my brother came and he worked with him [John], you know, in Jackson. Of course, he’s down the street, you know, [is] Niki’s West.

Your brother, Gus.

Yes. And he died many years ago, you know. Three years ago, yeah…The hard work killed him.

The restaurant business is a very hard business to be in.

[Laughs] Yeah. And, uh, I been right here since nineteen sixty, which is, uh, forty-four years. And, uh, four years ago I retired, and I turned it [the business] over to my son.

And where in Greece is your family from?

Uh, Leunithian, they call them. It’s about a hundred miles out of Athens.

Okay.

But I lived in Athens, though. Because I have, uh, I went there to college, and I went through military school and everything. When I came right here [to Birmingham] I was twenty-five years old. You come, you know—

Okay.

--when you’re young.

So what was life in Greece like when you lived there?

Uh, with me it was good because I had a good time. Of course, I wasn’t married then and everything. That was different, you know…And I came right here to, uh, make, uh, a little money--ten thousand dollars, back then—and go back. But I [am] still here.

Did you meet your wife here?

Yeah, Yeah, my wife was—she is also Greek.

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yanni1 What is your wife’s family’s name? Her maiden name?

Uh, Serandos. Angelo Serandos. He was in the restaurant business too. He had a barbecue, you know. A barbecue downtown. Of course, he’s dead now, you know. He’s all--

What was the name of the barbecue restaurant?

Uh, Eli’s Bar-B-Q.

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Well, can I ask you to go back to, um, the Hontzas family starting Niki’s Downtown and then the two restaurants that were opened on this side of town.

Yeah. Well, uh, when was—you know, Niki’s Downtown, it wasn’t a—a—yeah, that was here then. Just down, you know, from, uh,--I have another u—uncle. He started Niki’s Downtown [Johnny Hontzas], and then he came right here and opened this, uh, place right here, and then he got sick and then, uh, he sold the place to, uh, uh—my brother [Gus Hontzas] and, uh, his cousin. Our cousin.

Okay.

Another cousin, Jimmy. And they’re all dead now.

Yeah.

Yeah. And now their kids--that’s where they start[ed], right here in Birmingham, yeah.

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Nineteen sixty was when the Smoke House opened?

Yeah. That’s when I came. Yeah. No! They had opened, uh, a few years earlier. Bou—I bought the place already open.

Okay.

Of course, that was when—you know, they had drinking place, but then I make—I make a restaurant. I make the food—uh, you know—eating place out of this…As you see, you know. Even back then—

So you came from Greece and—

From Greece and I, uh—

And you opened this—

Yeah.

--immediately.

Yes, ma’am. Yeah.

yanni1 Okay. And then, Niki’s West was already been open about three years, right?

That was a couple of years earlier, yeah. Three years—about two-and-a-half years earlier than, uh—then I came right here. But this place right here was [here] before Niki’s opened.

Okay, and who owned this before you took it?

But--that was, uh—really, the farmer’s market. Because the famer’s market—the farmner’s market, yeah. They built [it] for a—another, uh, guy.

Okay, but was he Greek?

His name Jesse –No. He wasn’t Greek.

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And did you—was the same menu here then?

No. No. That was, uh, they didn’t have no cafeteria line…And they didn’t have no—you know. That was more, uh, they’d have [short pause] short orders.

Okay.

Short orders food. And then, uh, you know, a drinking place and everything, you know. But now I don’t—I don’t have nothing like that. I just, uh—I don’t have no drinking at all. No whiskey, no beer, not nothing, you know.

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And so did you learn some of the business from what was going on at Niki’s West?

Yeah. I—I worked down there, you know, with my brother, you know.

Okay.

For a year. Yeah. But he and I, uh, you know—And then, work about sixteen, eighteen hours a day and that’s how you learn. You know, and don’t have to go [to] no school or nothing like that, you know. I have good education from back home [in Greece] and not here.

Yeah.

Not here. I didn’t go to school [in the United State] or nothing like that. I just learn, you know, by work…All by myself.

And so you initially just wanted to come here so you could earn some money and go back to Greece.

Yeah, that was my dream. You know, that’s everybody’s dream, really.

Are you glad you stayed?

Everybody—well, now—it’s too late now. [Laughs]

[Laughs]

This is my home now…Been right here forty-four years and my kids—my grandkids right here and--this is the best country in the world.

Yeah.

I been--go back [to Greece], I go all over Europe. You know, I go all around the world, you know, and this is the best country in the world.

Do you know how your father initially made it to Birmingham, specifically?

No, he wasn’t in Birmingham, he was in, uh, Louisiana.

Okay.

And he had a couple of small places—sandwich shops, you know, back then. You know, with the hot dog stands, whatever. And, uh, he made some money and, uh, but his daddy died. His daddy was a preacher. And he was the first [oldest] in the family, and his daddy died so he, uh, had to go back [to Greece] to take care of the family.

Okay.

They believed in family back then, you know, more than we do right now, really. And he got to go back, and then he never come back. He always want to come back. He loved this country. That’s why me and my brother came right here [to Birmingham] because he--you know, he push us, you know, here.

Yeah.

Yeah, he says go on, go to the United States. It’s the best country in the world and everything. He was right! This is the best country in the world.

And what was Birmingham like when you first got here?

Well, that was, uh—that—lot—lot of smaller, you know thing--just like Jackson is a lot bigger now, you know, than--it probably was four, five hundred—now it’s a million people, you know, with all the ouside[rs], you know, yeah.

Um-hmm. And what was business like here at the Smoke House when you first started?

Well, when I came right here, the, uh, lunch was fifty cents. [Laughs]

[Laughs]

Yeah, that difference, you know.

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yanni1 Sure. And your son Pete and Pete Hontzas over at Niki’s West—

First cousins.

Yes, they’re cousins—

First cousins.

--and they’re named after your father?

First cousin. Right.

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And you get all your produce and everything from the Farmer’s Market?

Yeah. All fresh, you know. We get them all fresh, you know. Yeah. We’ll have people from all over Birmingham just--come to eat just the vegetables, you know.

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Well, and the food that you serve here—is there anything—do you have Greek items on the menu?

Yeah, we cook Greek. We eat a lot of, you know, garlic, olive oil, oregano and, uh, things like that. Which is Greek, and we use them on, uh, most our foods, you know. We do that. We do Greek chicken, Greek fish and all that, you know.

Um-hmm.

But, uh—and some of the vegetables. Tomatoes and onions, you know, the Greek-style. You know, with garlic and—but all the rest [is] American because we--our customers is, you know—American people, you know. Yeah.

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And, um, so what—what can you say about the Greek community in Birmingham? It seems—

Well, they’re good. They’re great. Yeah, they’re great. We, uh, all belong to the [Greek Orthodox] church and everything, you know. Anybody don’t belong to the church is lost, you know. Lonely, you know. But, uh, we get along fine [short pause] with each other. Yeah, we don’t have the—it’s great. It’s good. It’s good. Good. Good Greek community.

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Uh-huh. Was your father a good cook?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He was. He was, you know, he would do some cooking-back home. Yeah. But see, the, uh, really—the people that came from there [in Greece]—well, the, uh, ladies, like my wife and everything. Uh, they’re good cooks. You know, we always got more right here. Like my—my daughter cooks and everything, you know. That’s a different story altogether. But the ones, when they came from there, yeah. Good cooks.

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