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Food is family's expression of love - Greek, Italian food on menu at Quincy's X&O
The Patriot Ledger Food Section
By Ray McEachern

Generations of restaurants have made their home at Hancock and Maple streets, but none have transformed the busy corner like Quincy Square's now open X&O European Trattoria.

Not just a restaurant tenant, the new 184-seat X&O is owned and operated by the Canton's Gregoriades family, who have invested $1 million to buy the corner block that formerly housed Mando's Italian Bistro.

But after an initial X&O opening late last year, the site's hodgepodge layout - a shortcoming for decades - proved just too annoying, said Manos Gregoriades, 30, president of the family restaurant.

So Gregoriades shut down for nearly a year and spent about $500,000 on a redesign that gutted the year-old Mando's site.

Now, patrons are discovering a new, expanded X&O, with comfortable furnishings.

Interior stucco walls of sunflower yellow, overhead fans, hardwood floors and a colorfully tiled brick oven centerpiece all contribute to an upscale mood. It's an ambiance that easily complements X&O's Old World cooking.

Gregoriades said the dinner trade has been growing steadily, and lunch is also gaining, thanks to downtown office buildings like the corporate headquarters of Stop & Shop across the square.

"Our intent is to get better every day, and that means a team effort by each of our 70 employees," said Gregoriades, who earned a degree in public administration from Stonehill College.

While the role of restaurateur is new to Gregoriades, who previously operated four service stations, he is banking on experience from his top lieutenants:

Manager Domenic D'Olimpio, 46, a veteran of Boston hotels who with his sister opened the Harvest Moon restaurant in Scituate, which they recently sold.
Executive chef Fabio Pagnozzi, 39, an Italian who trained in Naples and Florence, and most recently worked at the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas.
Chef Frank Baily, 26, a graduate of the Culinary institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and formerly with Tosca, the Hingham eatery.

But since X&O is a family enterprise, no one has a greater influence over Manos Gregoriades' approach than his mother, Mary.

Mary Gregoriades helps with day-to-day operations and oversees the kitchen, where she brings her love of cooking Old World recipes.

"Our intention is to offer a lot of uniqueness by presenting very authentic Mediterranean-style cooking with an emphasis on Greek and Italian," Mary Gregoriades said.

That means real Greek and Italian cuisine, "not Americanized," she said, noting that the menu also offers some American entrees.

Mary Gregoriades cooks recipes learned in her native Greece from her mother, a professional cook, and her grandmother. Meanwhile, Pagnozzi and staff are focusing on dishes from his native Italy.

It all reflects care and quality ingredients, which means, "everything must be fresh - not frozen or canned," she said.

And like X&O - the names does stand for love and kisses - "serving food is an expression of love that celebrates the family - whether at home or in a restaurant," Mary Gregoriades said.

"Cooking is all part of hospitality, all about bringing love and warmth," which helps explain why food is always such an integral part of all Greek family gatherings, she said.

Other Gregoriades family members also help on weekends with hosting and talking with customers. They include Dr. Christos Gregoriades, husband of Mary, who is herself a registered nurse, and the couple's daughter, Krysla Gregoriades Pedone, and her husband John Pedone, both lawyers who live in Milton.

While X&O's bar has an all-alcohol license, it also accents its claim of uniqueness with an adjacent bar serving brewed coffees and espresso, as well as fresh juices.

Among the trappings of the juice bar, which is likely to be popular in summer, is a one-of-a-kind machine on the South Shore: a giant orange juicer made in Spain. return to top

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