When a plate of freshly-rolled dolmades makes a surprise appearance during an interview, it illustrates exactly what Shirley and Demetrios Fournos have been doing in Sedona for the past quarter of a century — serving others.
At the end of October, the pair are retiring, closing their intimate and eponymous Fournos Restaurant to spend more time with children and grandchildren.
The occasion is sure to be bittersweet for them and for locals, along with the Hollywood crowd that makes their place a second home and travelers following tour book recommendations.
By Susan Johnson
Larson Newspapers
When a plate of freshly-rolled dolmades makes a surprise appearance during an interview, it illustrates exactly what Shirley and Demetrios Fournos have been doing in Sedona for the past quarter of a century — serving others.
At the end of October, the pair are retiring, closing their intimate and eponymous Fournos Restaurant to spend more time with children and grandchildren.
The occasion is sure to be bittersweet for them and for locals, along with the Hollywood crowd that makes their place a second home and travelers following tour book recommendations.
Despite sometimes having to seat folks in the tiny parking lot when more people show up for dinner than there are places to sit indoors, it’s been a husband-and-wife-only operation from the moment they opened in 1982.
Shirley greets all who enter their establishment in West Sedona, explaining the menu and taking orders.
Demetrios does all the cooking. Passionate about what he calls “clean food,” everything is homemade, including a whole grain bread so moist and rich no accompaniment is needed.
The middle-aged pair met at a cocktail party on Long Island; he was a successful Madison Avenue attorney and she was a beautiful redhead smitten by who she calls “that good-looking Greek.”
Shirley soon learned that marriage to Demetrios meant her cooking days were over.
“He didn’t like my pots; they were too thin,” she said. “He only wants food made in big, thick copper pans.”
She also found candymakers simmering in Demetri’s background — his parents who ran a Coney Island concession stand where they made their famous Gus Tallam’s saltwater taffy, hand-dipped chocolates and different types of fudge.
“I grew up in the stand,” Demetrios said. “I took my naps there in the broom closet.”
That heritage finally refused to be denied, demanding a change of both venue and lifestyle.
Demetrios put aside his law practice, enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America.
Upon graduation, his new vocation took the couple first to Southern California and then to Sedona, arriving at a time when cowboys still grazed their horses and cattle up and down Highway 89A.
“It was a culture shock for us — we’d only seen that in movies,” Shirley said
Their style of Mediterranean cuisine was equally shocking to the locals accustomed to steak and potatoes rather than unusual fresh greens, lamb shanks and poached salmon topped with Mykonos sauce.
That disconnect in what was commonly suitable for dinner made their first year a little challenging.
“The women were more accepting of our menu,” Shirley said. “And once the men tried our food, it was beautiful.”
Another aspect of the operation that made locals look askance was an open kitchen, where diners could see Demetri stirring his bechamel, simmering grape leaves, roasting legs of lamb and sauteing greens on the burners of his big, black Wolf Challenger.
That small deviation from the traditional closed kitchen door was more than offset by complimentary write-ups in the Phoenix newspapers, sending folks from the Valley scurrying up to the red rocks for dinner, while referrals from the burgeoning local art community also helped swell their reservation list.
It didn’t hurt that on any given night, diners exiting the tiny place might run into late arrivals like Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne, Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino or Linda Evans.
Don Woods, one of Sedona’s well-known architects, is one of their longtime fans.
“Fournos is a good place to take clients because we always get a lot of personal attention,” Woods said. “The food is great, and it’s a fun place to go.”
Linda Goldenstein of Goldenstein Gallery in Sedona first read about Fournos in the Arizona Republic.
“The first time we went there was 25 years ago; even before we got inside, the scent in the
air was so great and it’s been that way ever since,” Goldenstein said. “Shirley is like a kind, loving mother who immediately adopts you into the Fournos family, and Demetrios is the quiet one, just doing his thing in the kitchen where he’s wonderful to watch.”
Still, those days are soon to be over.
The whiteboard menu will be erased and put away; Wednesdays once reserved for rolling hundreds of dolmades will be open for trips to New England; the marble baking slabs gone and the maple butcher blocks sold.
The open arms that greeted regular customers will soon envelop only grandchildren; and that handsome Greek, the chef who once cooked for so many in Sedona will now be serving dinner for only two.
“It was a big gamble, leaving New York,” Shirley and Demetrios said. “But, we’ve loved all of it, both of us have, and we thank everyone in Sedona who showed their appreciation for what we were trying to do.”
Susan Johnson can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 129, or e-mail sjohnson@larsonnewspapers.com.
