In 2022 the Mustard Seed Home Interior Design team was given the opportunity to lead in interior design and styling of the new High Country Greek location opening in Spring 2023 in Boone. The Brewer family's second restaurant, Ambrosia Kafeneio, is a blend of the High Country Greek offerings we know and love, with new menu items to crate a traditional Greek bakery in the High Country.
Mustard Seed Home Interior Design Project Manager, Madeline Stewart, sat down with High Country Greek owner and founder, Allexia Brewer, to get the scoop on the new restaurant. Here's what you need to know.
Madeline: Good morning Allexia! This is so exciting, a second location! We're always excited to see family owned businesses thrive in the mountains. Give me some background on your business, when did you open High Country Greek (HCG) and what prompted you to start a restaurant?
Allexia: We opened the High Country Greek location in January of 2019 after seeing there was no Greek food in Boone and hearing from so many how much they loved it and wanted it and supported the former Greek owners who were here for 15 years.
Madeline: Now that's awesome, it sounds like your Greek heritage is a big part of your business model, tell me about your heritage and how that is played out in your menu and restaurants.
Allexia: Being Greek, food is life. I love to eat and bake sweets. My husband, Mike loves to make food for people and he does most of the savory cooking. Eating is a way to share community and heritage. I have always seen this business as my little fort. A place where friends can gather, celebrate, break bread together and escape the madness of the world for a few hours. Being that Greece is the #1 travel spot in the world, Greek food is soo loved. We listen to stories daily of our customer's travels and of the love they have for all things Greek. How could we not bring Greek to Boone!
Madeline: Absolutely, we love the food offerings at High Country Greek! Speaking of the HGC, what prompted you to start a second location and how will it be similar or different from the original location?
Allexia: I have wanted to expand pastries for a while. We were looking for additional baking space and an in town location and so, Ambrosia Kafeneio was born. A fast casual cafe serving up our most popular items from our restaurant! Expanded pastries and a greek market to complete the experience. If you can't be in Greece, we want you to feel like you are!! Our menus are a combination of family recipes and of things I've learned and created along the way. I love to call it Twists and Traditions. So while you'll see the traditional like Baklava, don't be surprised to see a twist with figs or blueberries or apples. I love to create and push what is possible in the pastries I bake!
Madeline: It seems like your family is also a big part of your business, tell me more about your family and what it's like working together.
Allexia: We are all working in the business. There's myself, my husband Mike, and my three daughters Adaira, Genna, and Della. Even my parents, Genevieve and Alexander help out when they can.Working together can be a blessing and a curse at times. Most of the time we work well together and I'm blessed to have their unique talents making our business what it is. Other times there can be conflict but even then, when any of the family are away, I miss them terribly. We work through our conflicts and are always better for it.
Madeline: We can definitely relate to that at the Mustard Seed as another local, family owned business in the area. Let's talk about the name for the cafe, Ambrosia Kafeneio, what's the background story there?
Allexia: Ah, the name. I struggled so much with it and I stumbled upon the word Ambrosia as I was reading about Greek mythology. In mythology, ambrosia was the food and drink of the gods and said to give eternal life to all that tasted of it. The word ambrosia literally means "immortality". It is derived from the greek word 'ambrotos'( immmortal) which combines the prefx "a" (meanting not) In mythology, only the immmortal gods and goddesses could eat ambrosia. I believe in it's origin, it was a sweet, most likely honey. I love the 'taste' of Ambrosia in my mouth when I say the word.
We wanted this to be a cafe but using the actual greek word for cafe, Kafeneio, was important to us. I want to impact community, the kids here with a new language any way we can. So Ambrosia Kafeneio was born. It really embodies an elegance, a twist on the traditional, a whimsy, a word that people are already using and it makes me so happy!
Madeline: That is the perfect name, especially when thinking about delicious pastries and delicacies. With this new location, what are you most excited for and what are your goals?
Allexia: For me, this experience has given the Brewer family our vibe. We moved into our Deer Valley location and it took off so fast we never had a chance to think about who we were as a business, what our brand was, what vibe did we want to portray and honestly, no one cared! (Allexia laughs) people just loved our family and our food..those two things are ever present in our brand. Family and food... heritage and culture as well. I'm most excited about more people learning that we are in Boone, trying our food and meeting our family. We want to touch as many as we can with what we are so proud to offer. I'm thrilled about the little cafe decor that represents not only Greece but the community of Boone. It's going to be special and unique and a new little fort for people to escape into. We are so thrilled.
It is our hope that we meet more people than ever before, that we introduce our family to more from our community and that more and more people who may never have tried Greek food get a chance to do so! We want to give our loyal customers who have helped create this beautiful fort more of a chance to grab lunch or a pastry. To try something new. To be ever changed by stopping in!
Madeline: The combination of delicious food, family, Greek heritage and your love of the High Country sounds like a combination for success to me! Thank you so much Allexia and we are so blessed to be with you on this journey!
Ambrosia Kafeneio is scheduled to open in March 2023 at 246 Wilson Dr. in Boone, NC.
For more information and updates, follow @thehighcountrygreek on instagram and Facebook or visit the website at www.thehighcountrygreek.com.
For more information on Mustard Seed Home Interior Design services, visit our website at https://www.themustardseedmarketnc.com/services
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