Business Finance Media Technology Policy Wealth Insights Interviews

Art Art Fairs Art Market Art Reviews Auctions Galleries Museums Interviews

Lifestyle Nightlife & Dining Style Travel Interviews

Power Lists Nightlife & Dining Art A.I. PR

About About Observer Advertise With Us Reprints

How Greekman’s Turned a Silver Lake Strip Mall Into a Serious Greek Wine Destination

What began as a pandemic-era souvlaki pop-up now serves 80 to 100 Greek wines alongside lamb, saganaki and feta.

There are plenty of places in Los Angeles to sip on a glass of skin-contact wine, but only one spot in Silver Lake where the house list runs more than 80 bottles deep and is made up entirely of imported Greek varietals. Greekman’s is not a wine bar, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a de facto Greek wine oasis and, strangely, one of the only places in the city devoted to vintages from the Mediterranean country. 

Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter

Thank you for signing up!

By clicking submit, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime.

In fact, it’s not even the first restaurant to occupy the dimly lit bistro space hidden away in a seedy, ‘80s strip mall. The precursor to Greekman’s was Freedman’s, an instant classic Jewish-American deli from first-time restaurateur Jonah Freedman, which opened at the end of 2017. Brisket was served tableside with bone marrow, and the martini was laced with pickle juice and Aquavit; the beloved deli landed Freedman spots on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and Bon Appétit’s best new restaurants of 2018. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and its owner discovered that tableside brisket didn’t lend itself particularly well to takeout. 

Greekman’s was his solution: launched in 2021, it featured a simple souvlaki menu that felt appropriately summery and was easy to order in or eat on the patio outside the Freedman’s space. It was supposed to be a temporary pop-up necessitated by pandemic restrictions on indoor dining, but somewhere between the lamb and wagyu kefta and feta baked in phyllo and sprinkled with pomegranate arils, Greekman’s grew so popular that it felt natural to move it to a permanent space. The blue-and-white parking lot patio decorated with green vines eventually had to be taken down, and Greekman’s moved into the now-closed Freedman’s space, with its polished vintage dining room, mahogany wood bar and stately built-ins.

In the midst of all these changes, Freedman decided the best way to christen his new menu was........

© Observer