The concept of “Open Until Late” is a growing trend for restaurants in downtown Moscow. Vlad’s Souvlakia, located on the corner of 6th and Jackson streets, is the newest edition to the late night scene but the rarity of its menu is what has helped Vlad’s be successful in it’s first weeks of operation.
“I don’t think there’s another (Souvlaki stand) in Idaho and I don’t know if there’s another one anywhere near here,” said Tim Balen, Vlad’s co-owner. “I know there’s a couple food trucks that serve Greek food. It’s unique.”
Balen and Niki Foros Pitsilionis, Vlad’s co-owners, began construction on the open-air style stand at the beginning of the summer and opened just in time for the return of college students, but not before a few test runs.
“We opened for Art Walk and that was pretty successful,” said Daniel Bagley, a Vlad’s employee. “Then, you know, we closed and made some adjustments and opened for another week … we figured more things out, particularly with our tofu. We didn’t bake it, but now we do. Business is great. It’s not what it would be if we had beer but we’re working on that.”
In concurrence with the restaurant’s name Balen prefers to be called “Vlad the Timpaler.” Balen began working with Pitsilionis as a chef at the Black Cyprus in Pullman.
“I was working there and then Nik and I talked about opening up a fast food street joint type of thing and this is basically 4,000-year old fast food,” Balen said. “They’ve found stuff older than the Greek philosophers … they’re finding remnants of souvlaki stands all through Greece. It’s basically a Euro-trash hotdog stand in a lot of ways.”
Pitsilionis spent his time growing up in Alaska and Greece, which has allowed for the restaurant to take on a truly authentic Greek menu.
“It really, truly is Greek. No automated skewering here,” Balen said. “It’s one of the oldest ways … it’s cooking over fire.”
The restaurant was constructed from various recycled materials that Balen found in the area. University of Idaho student and friend of Balen and Pitsilionis, Nathan Suhr specifically constructed the grill for the Vlad’s.
“The wood that’s used on the outside … our buddy Robert Barnstone found it so it was reclaimed lumber that probably would have ended up in a landfill somewhere. Our counters are recycled lab counters,” Balen said.
Balen said the slow and mysterious construction contributed to customer interest and allowed them to promote the business without any use of formal advertising.
“It’s visible … and it took us a long time to put it together,” Balen said. “We just put the place up … it’s a weird thing, it’s like ‘what is that thing?’ We didn’t put signs up until a couple weeks ago.”
Balen said the slow start and interesting construction also allowed for the employee’s who run the grill to “get their moves down” and learn the in’s and out’s of souvlaki grilling.
“The worst thing you could do is make all these big announcements and blow trumpets and then screw everything up because that kind of thing can stick so you let it kind of build. And now these guys are kind of grill ninjas,” Balen said.
Balen said the process has been an adventure and the restaurant has a lot of potential for the future.
“We’ve started doing some caterings for people and different events for the university.
It’s quick and easy and it’s semi-casual and not too fancy. People can do it within a nice budget,” Balen said.
Balen said they are in the process of constructing a canopy so that the restaurant can remain open during the winter months.
“We’re just going to rock it,” Bagley said. “It’s still going to be open but basically we’re going to have something that will catch the snow and rain and kind of provide a wind buffer on either side.”
Bagley said he enjoys working at Vlad’s because of the uniqueness and camaraderie of the restaurant and staff.
“The nice thing about this place is that we’re doing it very simple and everybody who works here … it’s like a family,” Bagley said.
Balen said Vlad inspired the Impaler, more commonly known as Dracula, was the inspiration for the name of the restaurant.
“We serve meat on sticks,” Balen said. “Vlad the Impaler took his enemies and put them on sticks and lined Transylvania with them and then we joked, we’d be late night and he’s often credited with being the original vampire … so we thought it was funny and we thought we’d come up with a better name and then we never did.”
Vlad’s Souvlaki is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m.
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected].