‘The dough has emotions' at The Lamb and The Wolf | It's Your Business

If you want to strike up a conversation with Michael Athanasopoulos, just ask him about soccer or food and then … take a seat.

"I can talk to you for hours about food. It's my life. And soccer, I'm a soccer guy. Those are my two things – food and soccer are what I love," said Athanasopoulos, the guy behind the fabulous food served at Oroville's newest restaurant, The Lamb and The Wolf.

Since he, along with his two partners - Matt Maples and Kyle McCraw - own the Greek and Mediterranean food restaurant and not a soccer team, we talked food, how he became an award-winning pizza chef and the new restaurant.

Where it began

Born in Korydallos, Greece, Athanasopoulos began working in local restaurant kitchens when he was 7 learning to make traditional Greek food. He continued working and learning after school and during summer breaks to earn money but soon discovered the kitchen was his happy place.

"It was love from the first sight," he said. "I finished high school and decided I liked the kitchen so I continued."

In 2010 when he was 37, Athanasopoulos came to the United States to consult with a friend who owned a Greek restaurant in Chicago.

"I had no English when I came to the United States," Athanasopoulos recalled. "But there are around 5,000 Greek words inside English so it was more easy to catch up with the language. The pronunciation was different but I knew meanings."

He left Chicago after nine months for a chef's position in Manhattan and by 2013 he'd relocated once again this time to Clear Water, Florida. There he opened his first Greek pizza eatery and served up a variety of the savory pies made with his native land's traditional crust.

"Greek pizza is a very thin crust called plakoundos," Athanasopoulos said. "That was my original idea – to make it traditional."

The Florida restaurant was a success, amassing Athanasopoulos a large customer base and multiple accolades including, among others, these from Trip Advisor in 2013 and 2014: First for Best Food Destination in Tampa Bay Area and Second for Best Pizza and Mediterranean Food.

In 2014 the master pizza maker became involved with the U.S. Pizza Team. He traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada for the International Pizza Expo where he entered his traditional Greek-style pizza in the International Pizza Challenge and won first place. Since then he has continued his participation with team traveling around the world and U.S. competing and placing in various competitions.

McCraw, who is working in The Lamb and The Wolf kitchen learning to make many of the dishes served in the restaurant including his favorite the meatball pasta and the pizzas, said learning how to make the pizza dough is his biggest challenge but fun.

" (Athanasopoulos) makes it look so easy, but it's a Zen thing" said McCraw. "You have to learn to be one with the dough. It's alive and you have to learn the feel because, I'm telling you, the dough has emotions."

"The Wolf"

From Florida, Athanasopoulos made his way to California and found Oroville which he said has become "my second home after Greece. I love this town."

In 2015 Athanasopoulos opened his first restaurant in Oroville, The Broken Plate, serving pizza, soup and pasta. While the reviews from customers earned him a five-star rating, staffing issues prompted him to close after 18 months.

Athanasopoulos then started a food truck which bore the same name as his new restaurant does, The Lamb and The Wolf.

"The name I get because the first place I worked in Chicago I hear them say, ‘ lamb sandwich and put shoes on it' for a to-order. It stuck with me because gyro are made with lamb," explained Athanasopoulos. "Then when I win first (pizza) competition they couldn't say my name so I said, ‘Call me The Wolf." I got that because my mom was Irish and my great grandfather served in the Irish army and his nickname was ‘As Strong as Wolf.' So I made the two together for The Lamb and The Wolf."

The food truck developed quite a following in Butte County as well as at events around the north state. But in 2018 the truck was destroyed in the Camp Fire. While it was a setback, Athanasopoulos took it in stride saying, "I don't care about the ruck. People lost their lives. I am here to tell my story. Some people are not."

Athanasopoulos spent the next few years working his trade while caring for his two children. Then in early March he was driving around Oroville and saw the empty building at the Montgomery Street roundabout and thought it would be a "great location, right at the top of downtown, with lot of traffic" to open a new restaurant.

Savory and sweet

He reached out to Maples and McCraw, both of who he knew from their catering business, Silver Sage Catering in New Castle, to see if they wanted to be his partners in the new business. They said "yes."

"You can't go wrong with these guys," said Athanasopoulos. "(McCraw) is a giant with a heart of gold. I call him lollipop because he is very sweet. And (Maples), he is smart, smart, smart and motivated."

The partners signed the lease for the new building on March 23 and opened the doors on Mother's Day. And business has been booming ever since with customers dining in and cars streaming through its drive-thru from opening at 10 a.m. to closing at 10 p.m. seven days a week.

"We decided to open The Lamb & Wolf because I wanted to bring that same level of quality and care that I operate the catering business with to a permanent space here in Oroville," said Maples. "This community deserves great food, and I saw an opportunity to create something unique that blends Mediterranean flavors with a welcoming, local feel."

From The Lamb and The Wolf's gyros made with chicken, falafel or a blended mouth-watering mix of beef and lamb created by Athanasopoulos in conjunction with an Illinois-based food company to the 12 signature pizzas and six varieties of pasta dishes and straight on through the appetizers including a delicious roasted eggplant, hummus, dolmades, and perfectly prepared Greek meatballs served over cooked spinach with a cumin tomato sauce topped with feta cheese, all the food is made with fresh ingredients on site.

The menu also features two unique specialty items - pizza cones and dessert pizza.

For the pizza cones "think ice cream cone only the cone is made from pizza dough filled with toppings and sauce," said Athanasopoulos, who bought the equipment to make them from a Greek company he's worked with for 30 years.

The dessert pizzas - on the menu along side other sweet treats like traditional baklava and Mosaico - hazelnut chocolate with vanilla cookie crumble frozen and cut into thick slices – come in two varieties. The Nutella pizza is topped with hazelnut and chocolate spread and, if you chose, sliced bananas. The Goodby Dubai pizza is topped with hazelnut chocolate, pistachios and sugar-syrup drops.

"In the last years, dessert pizza has started to be popular and chefs are creative with it," said Athanasopoulos. "I wanted to make them for the kids, the little kids and the big kids, you know, the adults."

For more information about The Lamb and The Wolf visit them at https://www.facebook.com/thelambandwolf

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