Rising from the ashes

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SW/ALL/VIEW--Yiorga Aretos owner of Sonio's Restaurant stands in the kitchen area of the newly refurbished restauarant.Friday, January 14,2005--View photo by shelly donahue SW/ALL/VIEW--Yiorga Aretos owner of Sonio's Restaurant stands in the kitchen area of the newly refurbished restauarant.Friday, January 14,2005--View photo by shelly donahue

Yiorgo Aretos might just be the most positive man in Las Vegas.

If not, he's a contender for the title.

The 28-year-old watched as his restaurant, Sonio's Cafe, burned to the ground in the wee hours of Sept. 12, 2002. There was never a hesitation on his end to rebuild and reopen, because, as he exclaimed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on the morning of the blaze, "The people of Las Vegas must have good chicken."

The phrase became his mantra for the 14 months it took to rebuilt and regroup. The restaurant opened to eager and hungry patrons in November. For a time, Aretos was turning people away because there was no room inside.

"It was never a question whether or not I was going to rebuild. It was just a matter of how we were going to do it," Aretos said. Sonio's Cafe was one of three businesses to burn that morning and the only to reopen. "I didn't want to redirect them to somewhere else. Plus, it's the original Sonio's."

Aretos looked at the fire as an opportunity to start over. Gone is the white and silver diner feel. Aretos redecorated the joint in wood and warm tones. There aren't as many windows as before, but that means patrons will have to step inside to see how busy it is.

"The environment before, it felt fast pace and diner," he said. "I wanted it to be a more fast, casual place. Make a neighborhood place."

If anything, "neighborhood" is the theme of the out-of-the-ashes version of Sonio's Cafe.

Aretos' plans exceed merely reopening his restaurant. The 14 months of down time were spent working to recreate the place in his own image, beyond what he could do with the restaurant he purchased at age 22.

"There's other elements involved with it," he said. "It's personal, not only the character of the restaurant but the people involved with it."

Aretos' eyes alight when he mentions the Sonio's Neighborhood program, his idea to bring the neighbors together, which will begin in February. It's a program he's been working on for a couple of years, but the reconstruction gave him the time to put it together.

The program includes free wireless Internet, a frequent diner card, debit card (similar to a gift card) where patrons can pay for their meal in a hurry and a neighborhood section, a cafeteria-style area of the restaurant where you never know who you're going to meet over lunch.

"Most of the people who come in here for lunch know each other anyway," said Kelly Maguire, waitress and creative director.

"You never know who you're going to talk to. You never know who you're going to get sat next to," Aretos said. "You never know whose card you're going to get."

He's the first to admit there have been changes. He lost nearly 80 percent of his staff during the reconstruction period, and implementation of operational procedures were modified. But the chicken remained the same, or improved, he said.

"The majority of my customers tell me it's better than before. I think it was pretty damn good before," he said. "But I have to agree with them."

From 60 percent to 65 percent of the customers who frequent Sonio's Cafe have been eating there since before Aretos bought it in 1998. But it's not only the old customers he has to please.

"New customers have heard the reputation and walk in with expectations," he said. "You can have a restaurant in the back. If you have good food, you'll be busy."

Aretos also is working on bringing back lost elements of the old restaurant. Photos taken from around the world of patrons holding the Sonio's Cafe logo lined the back hallways. He is urging customers to bring in their photos to start a new collection.

Articles that hung on the walls and the awards the restaurant earned, such as the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Best of Las Vegas prizes, are only a memory.

More importantly, Aretos wants to replace the connections to customers, many of which he kept in contact with via e-mail during the reconstruction. He answers every e-mail he receives, he said.

"I have no business without my customers. My customers have nowhere to eat without me," Aretos said. "It's a huge community of thought, idea and effort."

Aretos' positivity doesn't equal naivete. He mentions the hard times --- arguments with landlords and fighting to rebuild --- but he doesn't dwell on them for more than a few seconds.

"Everyday it was something new. There were brick walls, people trying to stop us. Not one day of that process is easy," Aretos said. In the next breath, he folds the words in his mouth to ring with positivity and hope for the future.

"I could sit here and tell you a list of negative things that have happened, but it's not worth it. When all is said and done, what happened in the past, happened. The headaches I had before don't exist. And if they do, they're a lot less. It think we really took it to the next level."

He wears the quote he gave the news media the morning of the fire like he would wear a badge of honor. Customers tease him about it, but it is what pushed him to finally hang the "open" sign in the window again.

"When I said it," he said. "I meant it."

Those interested in Sonio's Cafe community events, including a future open mic/soap box night, can call the restaurant at 307-2177.