Efharisto, Conti: A U-District Icon Closes

A U-District icon shutters this Sunday.

I know, I know, ten thousand things rise and fall without cease. But, damn, am I ever going to miss the smiles and meze at The Conty.

Demetre, George and Helen Lagos welcomed me to the "big" city of Seattle 20 years ago. I toasted my Ancient Greek finals there in college and later practiced my (never impressive) modern language skills on the staff, before moving to Athens for six months. My mother Ellen poured a glass of retsina down me there, after my divorce finalized in 2004. I've rolled up dripping saltwater from dives in Puget Sound and straight off international flights, still stinking of airport. The Conti even catered the book reading I did at the University Bookstore with fellow authors from the anthology Greece, A Love Story. So a little hole punches out of my life's fabric, as the owners shutter up this Sunday and settle into some much-deserved R&R with their families.

Efharisto, dear friends, and good luck with your next adventures!