The return of Zorba
Photo by Jeanna Duerscherl l The Roanoke Times
A simple, brick shopping center near Lynchburg Turnpike and U.S. 419 in Salem houses an equally nondescript little restaurant with sand-colored walls and bare-bones furniture.
But when customers walk through the door, a familiar mustached face pops into view through the kitchen pass-through window, and suddenly it feels like the most colorful restaurant in the world.
“Hello!” crows Adel Eltawansy, aka Zorba the Greek. “How you doing? Good to see you!”
Eltawansy, a native of Egypt, purchased the 25-year-old Bobbi Jo’s Pancake House business shortly before the Roanoke City Market building closed for renovation, rendering his longstanding booth at least temporarily defunct. He renamed his new space Bobbi Jo’s Restaurant and Zorba’s Small World Cafe, promising that “Zorba will make everybody know where Lynchburg Turnpike is.”
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November 10, 2010 - 7:00 AM
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My mom and I went to Zorba’s for lunch today, and I guess my days of ordering Leave It To Zorba, without asking questions are over. That’s what we both ordered, and when they brought it,I was unable to eat it because it had grilled shrimp and I have crustacean allergies. No crab, lobster or shrimp for me.
sniff sniff so sad.
I ordered something else and had the waitress bring a box so my mom could take my shrimp dish home. When I was at the register paying, the guy looked at my bill strangely, because he’d been by our table and knew there were only 2 of us, but 3 orders were on the bill.I explained what happened and told him I had no problem with paying for it, because it was not their fault at all. A lesson was learned. Good thing my mom loved the dish!