Oh, no! My favorite restaurant is closing.

I couldn’t believe it when we heard the news. Dimitri’s International Grille in Catonsville, Md., is closing.

Dimitri’s is absolutely our family favorite. It has everything you could want in a restaurant, including friendly staff to welcome you and trays of saganaki—flaming Greek cheese that the wait staff sets on fire tableside and then extinguishes with a lemon.

All of the food is amazing—the spanakopita, the pasta dishes, the Greek salad with finely grated feta cheese and slivers of red onions, the signature sliced Beef ke-Bob sandwich, and the rice that my children claim is made some special way.

Then there’s the tzatziki. Oh, the tzatziki. It’s smooth and tangy, fresh and fragrant. I could eat it on cardboard, but Dimitri’s serves it with delicious warm pita wedges and sliced cucumber. I enjoy it with the salmon souvlaki that features these moist and flavorful grilled cubes of salmon, peppers, and onions.

Or I did. Not anymore. Dimitri’s will close this weekend. We are so, so sorry to see it go.

My husband, John, has been eating at Dimitri’s since he was a teenager who would volunteer at St. Louis Church in Clarksville. He and his brother would help clean the church, but some days the pastor, Monsignor Anthony Sauerwine, would take them for a beef kabob sandwich at Dimitri’s.

John introduced me to Dimitri’s while we were dating, and it was love at first sight—I mean, with John, too, of course. But definitely with Dimitri’s. We lived in Catonsville for a while, but even when we weren’t living nearby, we would go out of our way to stop there for a meal.

During the pandemic, we’ve driven around the beltway a few times to pick up our favorite items there—though never the flaming Greek cheese. We always thought we would be back to enjoy that in person.

We’re all sorry to see Dimitri’s close, and we’re not the only ones. Since they announced the closure, we’ve tried to carry out a few times, and they are so busy, that they can’t keep up with the demand.

As someone who wants to carry out enough tzatziki for a year, I understand. Their food is outstanding. And the people there have always been so warm and welcoming, even when we had exuberant toddlers in tow.

We will miss Dimitri’s. And seeing this special restaurant close is bringing back memories of other restaurants I’ve loved that have closed over the years.

When Haussner’s Restaurant closed, my parents and sister Treasa waited in a line that stretched around the block to get in and have a final meal—and I drove two hours from Pennsylvania to join them.

As a child, I always loved going to Ming’s in Timonium—a fancy Chinese restaurant with beautiful tanks of fish.

I remember visiting the Golden Arm on York Road just south of Rodgers Forge—and how one day Johnny Unitas was there himself.

Then there was the time John and I tried to go to one of our favorite spots, Olive and Sesame, where we had our rehearsal dinner, and we discovered it had closed. That was a blow.

Restaurants often don’t last forever. And during this pandemic, that’s especially true. We’ve been trying to support local restaurants by carrying out their food in hopes they will make it through this time.

But Dimitri’s will be gone.

Of course, as John said today, “It’s better to have loved Dimitri’s food and lost than never to have loved Dimitri’s food at all.”

It made me laugh. And he’s right. We will always remember Dimitri’s and the memories we’ve made as we enjoyed another platter of flaming Greek cheese. Opa!

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