When Pam called me the other day after an appointment in the Park she asked if I wanted to meet for lunch and I suggested “our place.” (We call Niko’s our place because it was the site of one of our first dates. I had used the old Ridge boy invite on her to “let me take you out to dinner and a show” which usually translated to Ledo’s and the Lexington Park movie theater. Somehow we ended up at Niko’s instead. Hence, it became “our place.”)
Niko’s has been open in St Mary’s Square since 1977 and is the second, soon to be oldest business in the Square. Radio Shack was there first but appears to be on the way out so Niko’s will now be numero uno.
Because Niko’s was close, had good food and you could get in and out of there, Mike Raley and I used to grab lunch there a couple times a week back when I worked on Base and he ran the furniture store. We always liked trying to joke round with Niko himself who was a little like that Belushi SNL Greek deli “cheeseburger cheeseburger” dude. Niko didn’t say much either.
Somewhere along the line, Niko went back to Greece and his then wife Lambrini took over the operation of the restaurant. When Pam and I visited the other day we got this photo with her. Also, here is a good article on Niko’s by Michael Reid in a recent Enterprise edition (click here.) 
Did you know that Belushi’s skit was based on a real place – the Billy Goat Tavern?