Cover Story: The Stamos Family

__________________________________________ Sixteen year old Pete Stamos and two waitresses at the Rex Cafe in 1953. __________________________________________

FOR THE STAMOS FAMILY BLESSINGS OF GIVING AND RECEIVING PARTNER MORE CLOSELY THAN EVER

By Dave Person david.r.person@gmail.com

With the approach of the seasons of giving and thanksgiving, Steve Stamos fi nds himself in an unfamiliar position — that of the recipient. As owner of the Blue Dolphin, a food-and-drink establishment on the near south side of downtown Kalamazoo, Stamos, 59, is known for opening his restaurant to provide free meals for the community each Christmas Day, a tradition begun by his late father, Pete.

But when Covid-19 spiraled in March, forcing restaurants at fi rst to close, and then operate at a reduced capacity, 2020 was shaping up to be a challenge like he had never seen before. Stamos says that’s when his loyal customers stepped up. After Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered the closure of Michigan restaurants’ sit-down business as of 3 p.m. Monday, March 16, in order to slow the spread of the virus, Stamos quickly switched gears and the next morning opened the Blue Dolphin for takeout meals. His regular customers and others in the community and beyond, he found, were there to support him. “They would drive from (as far away as) Mattawan and Plainwell,” Stamos says. “I’m usually the one doing the giving, but this time I felt they did this for me,” he says. “It’s humbling.” Restaurants were allowed to reopen on June 8, but at a reduced capacity as the pandemic has continued to infect signifi cant numbers of the public. Among the safety features Stamos put in place at the Blue Dolphin were a reduction in the number of tables and plexiglass shields for the protection of customers at the bar. The Blue Dolphin now seats up to 80 people, whereas before the Covid-19 restrictions it had room for 160.

Its adjacent Papa Pete’s venue, which had a seating capacity of 200 and live music, continues to be closed for performances, although technically it could now have them, but with smaller audiences.

“We don’t do that for the safety of the customers,” Stamos says. Overall, because of Covid-19, business is down about 30 percent, Stamos says, but he has remained open without the aid of government Covid-19 relief programs, such as Payroll Protec-

“We never took any of that so they could give it to others,” he says. Papa Pete’s, managed by Stamos’ son, Peter, is named for Steve Stamos’ father, who was a longtime Kalamazoo restaurateur and businessman. It has reopened afternoons and evenings for food, and also specializes in hand-tossed homemade pizza. Steve Stamos says because of customer support, the Blue Dolphin not only was able to continue serving meals, but also had the ability to keep most of its staff employed. “Even when we couldn’t have … (patrons) inside, we had 12 (employees) working inside,” he says. The restaurant is currently back at two-thirds of its former staff.

The Blue Dolphin, at 502 S. Burdick Street, has been around since 1991 when Stamos opened it, replacing the Rex Cafe, which had been in operation one block north for more than 50 years. The Rex, as it was called, was owned for most of that time by Stamos’ great-uncle, Constantine “Gus” Stamatelos, and then taken over by Pete Stamos when Stamatelos died in 1976.

Steve Stamos says throughout this unusual year the safety of his employees and customers has been his No. 1 concern. He says he has been in frequent communications with the county health and city public safety departments with regard to healthy practices, and for advice on what to do should the restaurant or its employees be exposed to Covid-19 cases, which through early fall had not occurred.

“We’ve been blessed; we haven’t had a single problem through this ordeal,” he says. In addition to their son, Steve and his wife, Tasia, have a daughter, Julie, who lives in New York. The Stamos children have the same fi rst names as their paternal grandparents. It was those grandparents who began the tradition some 40 years ago of opening the Rex for free Christmas dinners. After Pete Stamos began inviting employees and customers to his home each year for Christmas meals because no restaurants were open on Christmas Day, his wife suggested serving free meals at the Rex. The tradition blossomed from 50 meals that fi rst year, Stamos says, to 1,200 meals in 1990, the last Christmas the Rex was open, according to a Kalamazoo Gazette story. At that time, many of the

Steve and Peter Stamos serving up some Blue Dolphin specialties. ___________________________________________________

free meals were delivered upon request.

Since the tradition moved to the Blue Dolphin in 1991, as many as 2,200 people have taken advantage of the culinary Christmas offering, although with the phasing out of deliveries the typical number served in recent years is around 1,500, Stamos says. In the past, the restaurant and Papa Pete’s, which is connected to it, have seated 400 people at a time, with others waiting in line for tables to open up, as employees and volunteers serve the meals. Stamos says the recipients are given a choice of turkey, prime rib or ham steak and are served by wait staff rather than serving themselves buffetstyle. The Blue Dolphin isn’t alone in serving free meals during the holidays. Theo & Stacy’s, 234 W. Michigan Avenue, for example, has had a tradition of serving free Thanksgiving Day meals for more than 40 years. Owner Stacy Skartsiaris says, however, that her restaurant is too small to ensure proper social distancing for large groups so she has made the diffi cult decision not to provide free meals this Thanksgiving. Instead, she says, the restaurant will donate to agencies that provide meals to those in need. Stamos plans to continue the Blue Dolphin’s Christmas tradition, although he admits “it might be a little different.” He plans to consult with the health department in early December to determine how to pull it off. It is the Blue Dolphin’s way of ensuring that people won’t have to experience a blue Christmas.