Lost Tables: Cristo's

Cristo's

Klestene "Chris" Demetrulias was born on October 12, 1922 in East St. Louis, Illinois. His parents had immigrated to the United States from Greece. He was the third born of seven children; he had three brothers and three sisters.

Demetrulias lived with his family in the village of Maplewood Park, Illinois. He graduated from Dupo High School in 1940. He earned a letter in football his senior year.


Klestene Demetrulias	Klestene Demetrulias

Mary Ann Oskanian was born on April 5, 1924 in East St. Louis. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Istanbul just before the Armenian genocide in World War I.

Klestene Demetrulias and Mary Oskanian eloped in June of 1942 and were married in St. Charles, Missouri. They didn't tell their parents, and were married again in September of 1942 in the Greek Orthodox Church in East St. Louis.


Klestene Demetrulias and Mary Oskanian, June 1942

Klestene and Mary Demetrulias, Sept 6, 1942

Klestene and Mary Demetrulias had two children ― Patricia was born in 1944 and George in 1947. They lived in Maplewood Park on the same block with all of Demetrulias' siblings. Twenty-six first cousins played with each other.

In October of 1949, a charter was granted to Demetrulias and his brother-in-law, Floyd Armstrong, to run Club Chan-Del, a tavern at 8 South First Street in Belleville. In November, the tavern's liquor license was revoked, and by December, the tavern had new owners.

By 1951, Demetrulias had joined his uncle, Pete Demos (Demetrulias), in operating Pete's Cafe, a restaurant at 300 East Broadway in Belleville.

By 1955, Demetrulias had opened his own restaurant, a coffee shop at 315 Jerome Lane in Maplewood Park. He called his restaurant the Maplewood Park Coffee Shop. When Maplewood Park was annexed by Cahokia in 1958, Demetrulias changed the name of his restaurant to the Cahokia Coffee Shop.

Maplewood Park Coffee Shop, 315 Jerome Lane

George Demetrulias remembered eating at his father's coffee shop as a child.

We used to live across the street from the Cahokia Coffee Shop. That was on the corner of Jerome Lane and Upper Cahokia Road in Cahokia, which is the same road where all of my cousins lived. My grandfather owned the building and ran the tavern next door. When my mom worked, I used to go over and I would eat at that coffee shop daily.



1960s Cahokia Coffee Shop Menus (click image to enlarge)

George Demetrulias remembered his father opening a third restaurant.

He started in the restaurant business at Pete’s Cafe and then got the Cahokia Coffee Shop going. At the same time, he also bought a place called Pine Street Grill in St. Louis.
Dad was trying to get established running this coffee shop and these two hamburger joints. He was getting to know the restaurant business, trying to upgrade.

In October of 1958, Demetrulias purchased the Golden Ivy Restaurant in St. Louis from Joseph Parissi, who owned the building and the bar next door. The Golden Ivy had been at North Grand and Hebert since the early 1930s.

Golden Ivy Restaurant, 3133 North Grand

The Golden ivy was a steak house, although it was also known for its chicken and dumpling Sunday special. It was located one block north of the old Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) at Grand and Dodier. The restaurant did a booming business two hours before every baseball game, emptying out as soon as the game started.

Demetrulias remodeled the Golden Ivy not long after he bought it. According to Pat Demetrulias Leontsinis, this was her father's standard practice.

My dad always wanted to get ahead; he wanted to do better. Every restaurant he had, he was always remodeling. My dad would update the decor and we’d say don’t do it, don’t spend the money. And he did it and it was always better. He was always striving to improve himself.

George Demetrulias had the same memories.

He always tried to remodel. Business might be good ― business might be doing really well ― but he was always remodeling to try to make it look better.

George Demetrulias remembered another practice his father started at the Golden Ivy.

When he owned the Golden Ivy, his philosophy was always to put some nice cheese and bread on the table and serve a great dinner salad ahead of time. That way, if the service happened to fail just a little bit, it was unnoticeable to them. So that was always his strategy ― put cheese and crackers on the table and a nice dinner salad real quick and try to make them happy ― and move on from there.


Chris Demetrulias at the Golden Ivy, 1960

By 1966, the Parissi family again owned and operated the Golden Ivy; Demetrulias had sold the restaurant. The Cardinals had moved their ballpark downtown and the Golden Ivy no longer benefited from the pregame rush of business. But George Demetrulias didn't think that was a factor.

I’m not sure if that’s the reason he sold it or if he was just driving down the road one day and he saw this place called The Wigwam. I don’t know that he just didn't see an opportunity there.

The Wagon Wheel restaurant was offering chicken dinners at 8787 North Broadway as early as 1941. It's not documented when the Wagon Wheel became The Wigwam. But when Demetrulias bought the restaurant in 1963 and registered the name "Cristo's" with the state of Missouri, "The Wigwam" was listed as the previous name.

While Demetrulias registered his new restaurant as Cristo's, he continued to operate it as The Wigwam until 1968, perhaps to help retain the customer base. Demetrulias' Wigwam menu looked very much like his Cahokia Coffee Shop menu, with steaks, seafood, fried chicken, pizza, sandwiches and eggs.


1960s The Wigwam Menu (click image to enlarge)

Demetrulias brought much of his staff with him from the Golden Ivy. Pat Demetrulias Leontsinis recalled her father's special relationship with his staff.

He had great, great help that stayed with him for years and years. His manager was Rose. She was at the Golden Ivy and then she stayed with him forever.
He was a great delegator. He was not one that worked the place. He would put on his suit and go around and glad-hand the clientele and he let the managers run the place. But he made sure everything was right.

George Demetrulias agreed with these sentiments.

He treated his help good and kept the same consistent help with him, and many were with him from the Golden Ivy through Cristo’s.
Businesswise, he relied on his managers. A lot of restaurant owners feel they’ve got to be there and micromanage all the time. Dad believed in having a good manager that you could trust. He was the idea guy, and he would pass his ideas to the managers and have them implement.

In 1968, Demetrulias remodeled and expanded his restaurant and started calling it Cristo's.

Cristo's Restaurant, 8787 North Broadway
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan 2, 1975

The remodeled space had stucco walls and beamed ceilings. Customers waited for their tables in the bar; that's where Demetrulias made his profit.

Cristo's became more of a steakhouse than its predecessors. Pat Demetrulias Leontsinis recalled the menu ― and the practice her father had started at the Golden Ivy.

He was noted for his soups and his salads ― the salad dressing was his recipe. He would always put a bowl of cheddar cheese spread with crackers on the table. People would wait for that. You would come in and have these toast points with cheese spread and soup and a salad. By that time, you’re kind of full, but they’d order a steak ― the steaks were fabulous ― and a baked potato. The dessert was this simple little cobbler.

In his January 2, 1975 St. Louis Post-Dispatch review, Joe Pollack raved about Cristo's vegetable soup.

Cristo's vegetable soup ranks with the best soups tried in the area. It was a rich, steaming bowl whose stock tasted as if it had been simmering for a week or so on a back burner of the stove. The broth was filled with meat, peas, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots and probably a few other things, and the combination was filling enough to have sufficed as a lunch. It was just lovely.

Pollack also liked the chef's salad.

The chef's salad that accompanies the main dishes is another splendid dish. The greens are fresh and crisp, and the salad has odds and ends such as ham, hard-boiled egg, anchovies and other goodies, plus a delightful dressing.


1973 Cristo's Lunch Menu (click image to enlarge)

Pat Demetrulias Leontsinis remembered only happy customers at Cristo's.

My dad would never let anyone walk out of the place if they were unhappy. He would always give them a free meal. He thought the best way to get a bad reputation was to have someone go out and spread the notion that they got a bad meal. He said you’ll never come back if you have a bad meal. So he would always, always give people a free meal if they complained about anything. I think that was one of the hallmarks of his success.

On May 14, 1978, a fire caused extensive damage to Cristo's. The blaze began as a grease fire and was spread by an exhaust fan to the roof. The building and its contents were destroyed.

In 1979, Demetrulias reopened Cristo's in a new space at 8901 Riverview Drive, a few minutes north of his old location. Business picked up right where it had left off.

Cristo's Restaurant, 8901 Riverview Drive


1980s Cristo's Dinner Menu (click image to enlarge)

While Demetrulias was transitioning to his new space, he began residing part time in Scottsdale, Arizona. In 1984, he opened a Cristo's in Scottsdale, with the same menu as his St. Louis restaurant.

Demetrulias in front of Cristo's in Scottsdale

By 1985, Chris and Mary Demetrulias were living in Scottsdale full time. In June of that year, they sold their St. Louis restaurant to Bill and Pat Setzer.

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Bill Setzer was an agent for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Chris Demetrulias was one of his customers.

I had never considered running a restaurant before, but it seemed like such a good deal that I bought him out. The restaurant ― Cristo's ― was one of my favorite places, so maybe it made sense after all.

And one of my conditions upon buying it was that Rose Wolf would stay on and run the place. She's got nearly 50 years of experience in the restaurant business.

For 28 years, Setzer was an able caretaker for Chris Demetrulias' restaurant. Aside from adding tablecloths and splashes of gray and burgundy, he left things unchanged. The stained glass, stucco walls and dark wood furniture with tapestry upholstery remained in place, as did the staff of veteran waitresses and cooks.

The menu also stayed pretty much the same. Complimentary cheese and crackers were on the table when customers arrived, and each entree was served with soup and a salad.

I guess you could say that in my time here I didn’t do anything to mess it up.

The Setzers retired and closed Cristo's in January of 2013.

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Chris Demetrulias died on March 27, 2013 in Scottsdale, Arizona at the age of 90. Mary Demetrulias had died in 2010.

Pat Demetrulias Leontsinis summed up her father's career.

My dad was very creative. A bundle of energy. He just kept learning. He was self-taught and he absorbed the world.