It's all Greek at Zoi's Gyros Corner

Zoi Mousadakos has lived in Cape Girardeau for nearly two decades, but she's still Greek through and through. That's most evident the moment you pull up at her restaurant, Zoi's Gyros Corner, at the corner of Broadway and Caruthers Avenue, across from Grace Methodist Church.

Mousadakos is quick to point out that her restaurant isn't fast food.

"Drive through, not fast food," she laughs. "Not McDonald's."

With no inside sitting, the restaurant is strictly a drive through or walk-up establishment. Mousadakos makes the food herself, from prep to cleanup, but she does have one helper who comes in when the restaurant gets really busy. The store was originally her sons' place, but they both moved away. One works with computers in Columbia, Mo., the other runs his own restaurant in Rolla, Mo. They both come home usually every other weekend and help at their mother's place.

The food Mousadakos sells is completely Greek. Gyros, gyros wraps, Greek salads and falafel fill her menu. Everything is made to order. She also sells soft drinks and cigarettes, hangovers from when her sons ran the business.

Mousadakos loves Cape Girardeau, which she said is why she loves her job so much. During the summer she went to Greece for three weeks to visit her mother, and she came back to the open arms of her customers.

"They were all happy I got to go," she said. "But they were all very happy I came back."

For weeks after she came home, her customers would pull through the drive through and tell her how happy they were that she had returned.

"Everyone's so friendly," she said.

That's why Mousadakos has no plans to go anywhere. She acknowledged that she doesn't know what the future will bring, but she knows what her plans are with the restaurant.

"As long as I can do what I do, I'll do it," she said.

Zoi's Gyros Corner is open 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and is closed on Sunday.

Zoi's Gyros Corner

334-1144

1865 Broadway