The food and culture of Cyprus have fed the appetites and imaginations of millions for thousands of years and local restaurateur Andrea Theophanous, aka. Cyprianna, has brought a slice of her island culture and cuisine to Hespeler Village.
“When I started this place, I invented my own styles of pizza,” she said. “The halloumi pizza is Cyprianna’s signature dish. I did a garlic base and chopped up halloumi, tomatoes, and onions. It was a big hit. I’ve had so many people come in to try it. This village, the people here, are unbelievable. I can’t express the gratitude I have for them.”
News of her Cypriot inspired dishes has quickly spread, both online and by word of mouth.
“I make samples of things and give them out for people to try,” she said. “My mailman, specifically, he tries everything. I gave him some meatballs, or keftedes, we call it, a few weeks ago and he has been bugging me to make him a keftede pizza. Spanakopita is another of my popular dishes. We have our baklava, our own barbecue sausage, Greek salad, chicken souvlaki and pastichio, which is a type of Greek lasagna.”
Family, culture, and community are key ingredients in all her culinary creations and having a location on Queen Street, just a stone’s throw away from the Speed River, is the finishing touch.
“My dream was to own a little restaurant or shack, if you will, by a river,” said Theophanous. “I’ve got a lot of family and friends who really believed in me and helped push the dream come true. It was wonderful.”
A Cypriot flag hangs proudly on the wall and the restaurant is painted in Cyprus’s national colour, orange.
According to Greek mythology Cyprus is the birthplace of Aphrodite and Adonis and is home to some of the oldest heritage sites in the Mediterranean.
The island nation has endured wars, invasions, and occupations by the most powerful empires in history including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Romans.
In fact, it was an invasion of Northern Cyprus by Turkey in the summer of 1974 that led to Theophanous and her family coming to Canada when she was just a baby.
“They became refugees in their own country,” she said. “My aunt decided, ‘I’m going to take my family to Canada and start a better life there.’ So, she came with my older cousin and my parents followed shortly after. I was about a year old when I got to come here in ‘77.”
The family settled in Kitchener and became active members of the Tri-City’s large Greek community.
“Shortly after that my uncle opened a pizza store called Gourmet Pizza,” Theophanous said. “Unfortunately, my uncle passed away two years ago, but his son, my cousin Mario, has 30 years in the business as well, and he owns MJ’s Gourmet Pizza in Kitchener.”
Theophanous has followed many career paths in her life, but the family restaurants and making food have remained a constant source of comfort and security.
”I was a general manager at Goodlife Fitness and loved my job,” she said. “Before that I was in insurance, and I had all these fancy-type jobs. I’m all over the place but in between I always went back to the pizza shop. When I was a single mom for a little bit I would go there. The kids loved it and the pizza, and I had a couple tip dollars in my pocket, which was awesome.”
Theophanous and her partner John bought a transport truck four years ago and started a shipping business then the pandemic hit, and they lost their contract. Bills were piling up and both friends and fate were calling.
“Our friends were saying, ‘You’ve got to open a restaurant’,” said Theophanous. “’You need to get your food out there. There’s nothing like it.’ My friend was about to sell her house and she said, ‘Dang it, if I don’t help you get into some kind of food, I don’t know what else I am going to do’.“
They heard about a listing on Queen Street in Hespeler.
“When I came to look at the place I said to my partner, ‘We need to go for a walk. I need to see what is around here,’” Theophanous said. “I turned that corner and saw that waterfall and said, ‘Okay, the universe is speaking to me right now. I think we’re meant to be here.’ I took over April 15 last year and opened May 24 weekend. It’s a pizza store with a little slice of Cyprus and whatever I can bring in from my culture.”
Turkey continues to occupy Northern Cyprus, but relative peace has returned and that convinced Theophanous’s parents and other family members to return as well.
Theophanous has chosen to stay in Canada where she and her children have grown up but she stays in touch with family, especially her mother who she credits as her biggest influence and supporter.
“I told my mom I am getting interviewed and she said, ‘You are so popular now’,” said Theophanous with a smile. “We didn’t grow up around a lot of Canadian type food really. My Mom really kept the culture in the home. That’s where I got all my skills, and all my passion came from her. She taught me everything I need to know. The rules and morals that my parents instilled are still with me to this day. Work hard, help out, and things come. They just come.”
