In 1984, three brothers took their family recipes and experience working in restaurants to open Kosta’s Cafe.

Kosta’s is a restaurant serving “healthy, good Greek food,” said Dimitrios Ioannides, one of the three brothers.

The Greek restaurant company has three locations—one in Dallas and two in Plano with a brother working at each location. The Ohio Drive location in Plano opened in 1994; and the Alma Road location in Plano opened in 2004.

Plano was a smaller town when Kosta’s opened, Dimitrios Ioannides  said, but the restaurant had a regular customer who traveled to Dallas and suggested they move to Plano.

“People have been with him for years,” said Bill Sellers, a regular customer. “I’ve been coming here for over a decade. … After coming a few times, you know the family.”

Family and brotherhood is the center of this family-owned restaurant. When asked about working with his brothers Kostas and Zissis, Ioannides said, “Ah, we love each other and hate each other. Like anything else.”

Holding true to the family-style atmosphere are the dishes the restaurant serves, many of which are made using family recipes from Greece.

Ioannides said while everybody comes to Kosta’s for something different, one of the most popular menu items is the gyro plate ($12.95). The gyro plate consists of thin strips of gyro meat on pita bread topped with tzatziki sauce.

Tzatziki sauce is a Greek sauce or dip made with yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil and sometimes dill, vinegar or lemon.

Other popular menu items include dolmas ($6.95), which are rice and ground beef balls stuffed in grape leaves and served with lemon rice soup, and moussaka ($14.95), which is a casserole layered with ground beef and eggplant topped with a cream sauce.

“The Greek cuisine is very kind of simple,” Ioannides said. “It’s mostly olive oil, oregano, lemon, fresh garlic and some few spices. And everything has to be fresh, including the meats.”