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For nearly 50 years, Dendrinos Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge has welcomed patrons at 18300 Oak Park Ave. in Tinley Park, with owner Gerasimus "Jerry" Dendrinos there any day the place was open to greet his customers at the door.
The bar is the only one in the immediate area catering to the post-2 a.m. crowd, and while such late-night gatherings aren't for everyone, Jerry Dendrinos and his bar were local favorites for many.
Mr. Dendrinos, 72, died Thursday at Palos Community Hospital from complications associated with cancer, his family said.
Born in 1943 in Komitata — a small island village in the Ionian Islands region of Greece — he spent his early life working in his family's olive groves, according to family.
Mr. Dendrinos emigrated from Greece in 1969 after serving three years in the Royal Hellenic Navy, his family said. Prior to his military service, he studied engineering at a technical institute in Lixouri, Kefalonia.
When he arrived in the U.S., he joined his older siblings in the restaurant industry. Dendrinos opened in 1969.
"We are a very simple but proud and hard-working family with very strong roots," said Stacy Dendrinos, Jerry's niece. "They came like every other immigration story. They came here and didn't know what they would do, but they worked hard and everything they did was for their family."
During the 1970s and 1980s, Dendrinos was a full-service restaurant known for its thick pork chops and steaks, all cooked to order by Jerry and his brother, Leo, who had learned the culinary arts while working in restaurants in the city. A butt steak sandwich with fries that went for $1.75 at one time was a favorite with the crowd from Panduit, a longstanding industrial center in Tinley Park.
Mr. Dendrinos enjoyed cooking for people, his family said, and he often used produce from his own garden in the summer.
By the 1990s, the economy and clientele started to shift and Mr. Dendrinos began cooking less and less, but the business flourished regardless. Although the food had been a draw, it was the bar owner's hospitality that many people came for, and his company and willingness to keep his doors open late kept the customers coming in during downturns in the economy.
On any given day, Mr. Dendrinos could be found seated at the bar watching sports and talking with his customers. It wasn't idle bar talk of strangers; Mr. Dendrinos was known for expounding on life, talking openly about love, family and health with the many people he called his friends.
"He was there all the time," his niece said. "Anytime you went in there, you knew that you would see him, but he was also very grounded as a family person."
Mr. Dendrinos is survived by his daughter, Anastasia "Stacie" Dendrinos; a grandson, Augustin Sotirios; his brothers Leonidas, Panagiotis and Konstantinos; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Heartland Memorial Center, 7151 W. 183rd St., Tinley Park, with a service at 6:30 p.m. A funeral service is set for 11 a.m. Monday at St. Spyridon Hellenic Orthodox Church, 12307 S. Ridgeland Ave., Palos Heights.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Angela Denk is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Copyright © 2015, Daily Southtown
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