Years of Gyros

Papillion’s Grecian Gyros had been a part of senior Nora Isbilir’s family for as long as she could remember. The local restaurant, featuring Mediterranean food, was started by her mother’s father  in the late ‘80s, and then Nora’s own father, who previously owned The Gyro Shack, a different restaurant in Papillion, joined the business.

“My grandpa owned the restaurant first, and my dad influenced it to be Mediterranean food. My dad is from Turkey, and my mom is American,” Nora said. “It brings our Turkish and American culture together. Food is something that can be shared within any culture within any family.”

After Nora’s grandfather passed away in 2018, Nora’s parents took full ownership. Nora’s mother expanded a lot of the menu items and now owns her own catering company. On Nov. 15, the family handed over the restaurant to a new owner.

“It’s just kind of a thing that’s been in our family forever,” Nora said. “It feels weird to not have one.”

In the past, the restaurant would have played a central role in the family’s holiday celebrations.

“During Halloween, our place was always filled with laughs, but also the sound of overdramatic, comedically loud screaming because my grandpa liked to decorate. I happened to be the one screaming mostly. Half of my family got a nice laugh out of it, while the other half got really mad at my Grandpa for scaring me all the time. When I was little, he had this green witch decoration with a huge black hat and tangled black hair. It would hang from the ceiling and when someone opened the front door, the movement would trigger the witch to scream and plummet lower towards the carpet. He had it up for as long as I could remember and every single year he had it up it would scare me so badly that I would want to stay in the car during the month of October. He eventually took it down, but my family likes to tease me about it still to this day! It is hilarious to look back at because my Grandpa was very mischievous and he was always making jokes about anything he could,” Nora said.

     Even with the family’s light-hearted jabs at each other the holidays for the Isbilir’s family was also a time of appreciation.

“On Thanksgiving, my mom is often the type of person where if somebody doesn’t have a place to go, she’ll let them join us, and we’ll have a big Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant… That’s  something we do for Thanksgiving. Christmas is pretty similar,” Nora said. “We don’t have very extensive big family holidays, but we definitely do appreciate just having people around or making sure that everybody has something to do or some people to celebrate with.”

That probably won’t change, especially with her mom’s catering business still going strong, though the location might.

“It’ll probably just happen at our house instead,” Nora said.

Having grown up in a small business, Nora finds herself with an unusual outlook for someone her age.. 

“I’m such a small business supporter,” Nora said. “My mom is always the first person – if there’s a restaurant that’s just opening or like a business – she is the first person to know and tell me immediately that we have to go over there, we have to get something or talk to the owners. So, all of the small businesses around the community, they’ll know me because my mom brought them in when they first opened. It’s really important to support small businesses.”

Nora has often helped her mother with social media marketing and could see that as something she might want to pursue in the future.

“I’m rather into marketing. … If my mom is having issues with advertising or needs something on social media, oftentimes I’ll be the one to help her spread the word or make stuff for social media,” Nora said.

Now that Nora’s family has decided to close the Grecian Gyros chapter of their life. Nora’s mother is going to continue her catering business and her father will continue his passion of fixing and selling cars.

“My family was always at the restaurant,” Nora said. “Without the restaurant, my parents are … probably going to have no idea what to do with themselves for a little bit, because they put their all into the restaurant.”

But even with all the changes with the restaurant the community support of Grecian Gyros has remained strong to the very end.

“The community has been with us since the beginning,” Nora said. “There’s always been a lot of support for the restaurant. And it’s just one of the things that is thought about first. It has such a strong connection. My mom talks about all the regulars a bunch. My grandpa had a bunch of his friends who came in. They still come to the restaurant, and they’ve experienced every change.”

Nora said she hopes that same support will be there for the new management. 

“It’s still pretty new, but I think people will still support it because it’s still the same food that is going to be sold with some additions,” Nora said. “My mom knows the workers who are taking over. She’s trained them. They know the menu; they know the customers pretty well. So it’s all just wishing that the community will support the same way they did.”

Still, Nora will savor her memories.

  “The restaurant was like a second home,” Nora said. “We treated spending time behind the counter and speaking about the moments that make us joyful, upset, or thankful the same way we treat gathering together at a large, wooden dinner table at home. The restaurant has as many laughs, cries, and cheers as our own house does, maybe even more. Grecian Gyros created so many memories and connections. It was like the heart of my family.”