Pano I. Karatassos

is the executive chef of Kyma, a chic Greek restaurant located in Atlanta. Kyma is the latest of twelve restaurants operated by the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, which was founded by Pano’s father (who shares the same name) in 1979. Prior to assuming the role of executive chef at Kyma, Pano spent one year as a Saucier under chef Thomas Keller at the Mobil 5-Star French Laundry in Napa Valley and two years as the Saucier under Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten at the New York Times 4-Star Jean-Georges in New York City. He also spent two years at the New York Times 4-Star Le Bernadin under Chef Eric Ripert. There he completed every kitchen station and finished as Tournant. Pano is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.

Buckhead Life Restaurant Group has been serving Atlanta for 25 years now and, at last count, has opened twelve high-end restaurants, the last of which is yours, Kyma. Given your Greek heritage, is there a reason why you did not create a haute Greek restaurant earlier?
Put it this way, our father is passionate about seafood. He always wanted to do a stylish seafood taverna, but felt that Atlanta wasn’t ready for it – wasn’t ready to have a whole fish filleted at the table and all that good stuff. Back in 1979, all Dad wanted to do was open Pano’s & Paul’s, but as time went on, he saw the need for more concepts for Atlanta. For example, when he saw that there was not a great seafood restaurant in Atlanta he opened the Fish Market. Next, he opened 103 West to fill the void of a great French restaurant with a separate banquet space and world-class cuisine. Then he saw that Atlanta deserved a good Italian restaurant. He opened it. Through his travels he came across the diner concept. Can you believe that there was no really fantastic diner in Atlanta? So he opened Buckhead Diner. There wasn’t much of a steak concept either, just one or two restaurants, and so he opened Chops. The southwest was hot and so he opened Nava. You see how it went? Greek had to wait its turn.

It seems your father followed in some ways US food trends.
Sure he followed trends, but at the same time, just because a trend is hot in one place doesn’t mean that it will work in Atlanta. He had to pinpoint his timing on concepts when Atlanta was ready for them. I mean, he could have opened a causal taverna restaurant earlier than we opened Kyma, but…

Was your father right? Does Atlanta like Kyma?
The timing was dead-on, the restaurant is very well received. There is no other restaurant like it in the city. People, our guests, are getting a kick out of eating here. They love the meze that just keeps coming and coming. We’re set up for sharing, so guests can enjoy the whole Greek experience. Businessmen come here with guests they want to entertain. Even if they don’t know each other well, the restaurant brings them together. And of course, families love it.

How do you compare your restaurant to other high-end Greek restaurants like Avra or Milos in New York?
Kyma is better, I think. We are not afraid to take traditional home-cooked recipes of a Greek house and serve them in four-star atmosphere. In comparison, we are not only all about whole fish. We are interested in traditional foods; we’re focused on the Greek tradition. For example, I make a braised lambshank with trahana pasta that I learned from my aunt Rena. She’s an excellent cook – the hearty kind, she likes to cook meats. I will use my training to improve a dish, make the meat or fish more moist, say, but my dishes are really truly Greek.

I see you use Dodoni Feta; it’s mentioned on your menu. Do you think Greek Feta is superior to other "fetas"?
Oh, absolutely. That Feta in particular is wonderful and so is another style we choose from Epirus (a barrel aged Feta). The flavor and the texture are both great. Non-Greek "fetas" are often too bland, too crumbly. Greek Feta simply can’t be duplicated.

What about Bulgarian "feta"?
We’ll, I guess I’d use it over French "feta".

Why do you think Greek Feta is better?
I can’t tell you the scientific reasons. I suppose it is the methods used to make it. [Editor’s Note: see "Truth, Lies and Feta" in this issue for why.]