Katerina’s Greek Restaurant coming later this month to former Copia space in Clayton

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Photo by George Mahe

There are a lot of Greek-influenced restaurants around Clayton—Michael’s, Pan D’Olive, Olympia—but none within the Clayton city limits. If all goes according to plan, however, that will change by the end of the month: There’s a sign and a menu on the door of the former Copia space, at 7822 Bonhomme, announcing the arrival of Katerina’s Greek Restaurant.

Copia in Clayton opened in the former Morton’s space just over a year ago, before briefly transitioning to entertainment venue Copia Lounge. When the lounge concept closed in July, Katerina’s took over the space. (A Copia location also opened in Des Peres, in the former Elephant Bar, earlier this year.)

Tracy Dubis will operate the restaurant; her husband, Crist, was a former maitre’d at Al Baker’s and co-owner in a prior iteration of the Missouri Bar & Grille. Family members (including Tracy’s sister- and mother-in-law) will run the kitchen, assisted by Zack Fiordimondo, former head chef at the flagship Copia, which was located downtown. The Dubis’ son, Nick, is on board, too.

“I’m keeping the kitchen pretty much all in the family,” says Dubis, a longtime restaurateur. “That’s about the only way you can staff one these days.”  

Dubis’ 40-year-plus restaurant career began at Stouffer’s downtown, then The Mayfair, Caleco’s, 1860’s Hardshell Cafe, and Stoke’s in South County.

Katerina’s is named after Tracy and Crist’s daughter, Katherine, who died in February 2015 after being struck by an automobile while leaving a Blues game with her boyfriend. At the time, the 23-year-old had just graduated from Saint Louis University in December and started her first job. The loss affected the entire family, Tracy says, and forever will. After their daughter’s death, the family campaigned for safer streets in downtown St. Louis—better signage, more police presence, alerts on game days instructing drivers to slow down—an effort that’s become even more important, she says, given the increased popularity of electric scooters.

In some ways, the restaurant will serve as an homage to their daughter. Tracy hopes the atmosphere will feel like a "festive gathering place," she says. “We just want this place to be fun—Katherine would have wanted it to be fun."

The interior will have accents in blue and white. “Everything in Greece is either blue or white,” Tracy quips. There will be etchings of Greek islands on some of the interior glass. Look for Jenga atop many of the bar tables and a giant Jenga game in the private room.

The 40-item menu will include a wide array of Greek appetizers and dips, soups and salads, sandwiches, traditional meat and seafood dishes, and a section of traditional entrées and fresh fish (fillets of seabass, halibut, and salmon).

The menu verbiage is a mix of Americanized descriptions (chicken skewers, steak pita) and Greek names, such as melitzanosalata (roasted eggplant dip), kolokithakia (thin-sliced fried zucchini with tzatziki), and tyrokafteri (feta and hot pepper spread). Look for saganaki (fried kassieri cheese flamed at the table) to grace many of the tables.

“I love the song 'My Way,'” Tracy says of the Sinatra classic, playing on the recently installed jukebox. “Katherine was a courageous, kind, dedicated, and fun-loving person... We want to do the restaurant Katherine’s way.”