By Pat Hickey

September 12^th, 2025

Every American owes a debt of thanks to our American Greek countrymen for their ethnic contributions to good, healthy and consistent dining.  The people who created ethics saturate every offering with love and care.

True, every ethnicity contributed to American dining, but the Greeks made dining a special place in American culture. As noted in Restaurant-ing Through History, “Greek immigrants, in fact, have been especially inclined to run American restaurants which serve mainstream American food, with little suggestion of the Mediterranean. Typically, they’ve been the independent quick lunches, luncheonettes, coffee shops, and diners that are open long hours, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner to working people. Many have been run under business names such as Ideal, Majestic, Elite, Cosmopolitan, Sanitary, Purity, Candy Kitchen, rather than the proprietor’s name.”

This self-effacing act of welcome opened the doors to all ethnicities and provided American fare with an Aegean kick to millions of working people across the continent. Consistency and variety became staples of a walk through the doors of every Greek-owned and operated diner and restaurant.  Greeks introduced fountain treats and ice cream delights to American palettes. Hellenic delicacies like gyros and spinach pies became familiar selections on American menus.

Here in Michigan City, Indiana, once a thriving blue-collar town that lost industry and a fair share of its population to the North American Trade Agreement and other globalist initiatives, The Sugar Bowl maintains the Greek-American work ethic and standard of excellence that fed the working man and his family. This town boasted a sprawling industrial landscape that was home to Polish, Lebanese, Russian, African-American, Italian and Irish demographics. Galveston’s, owned by a long-respected Greek-American family, operates a consistent and satisfying steak house with a Texas theme.

Aside from the Polish St. Joe Club and African-American Social Q, most restaurants are unidentifiable corporate calorie troughs, like Chili’s and McDonald’s.

The Sugar Bowl stands out as an example of the Greek-American restaurant tradition.  There, the people who invented ethics (ethikos) maintain a customer-centered culinary business practice.

Between 1987 and 1994, while teaching at La Lumiere School nearby, I learned to love the many great eateries in the region. When I returned to the area in 2019, I was disappointed to see that number reduced to but a few. Back in the day, the Sugar Bowl operated on Michigan City’s main thoroughfare, Franklin Street, and later moved to its current location on Route 20, near the once bustling Marquette Mall.  Route 20 offers a river of truck and automobile traffic between industrial parks and vacation locations. Once I got settled, I stopped in to the Sugar Bowl for a post-Mass Sunday breakfast.

I was greeted by a slovenly woman with, “Seat yourself.”  Some ten minutes later this same harridan hissed “Whatcha Want?”  I asked for a menu.  The waitress/greeter ceased her chain smoking and tossed me a filthy plastic sheet sticky with ancient syrups and gravies, and fuzzy with dust bunnies. I rose, departed, and returned not to the Sugar Bowl.  Many others beat feet as did yours truly.

Eighteen months ago, come this Thanksgiving Day, a burly, avuncular and cheery Greek-American grizzly arrived at the Sugar Bowl. Pete Dimas and his business partner George Process, a restauranteur and financial planner, had owned the Sugar Bowl and determined to restore quality, service and fresh food to Michigan City.

Pete and George, with members of their families, operate a number of high-quality restaurants in Illinois, including Serena’s in Chicago’s Loop, the Sugar Bowl in Desplaines, and Mrs. Vs in Round Lake Beach.  A relative had allowed the standards of quality and service to slip in Michigan City, and Pete Dimas fired family and staff and closed the operation in Indiana.

He scoured every square inch of the Sugar Bowl from the kitchen to the Front of the House in a sanitation drive that would shame the most meticulous Polish Babcia.   He then hired new staff, brought in a great cook from Greece, called a meeting with the twelve servers, six cooks and three busboys and posed this question: “Who is your boss?”  YOU was the universal answer. Pete shook his head. “Wrong!  The CUSTOMER is your boss, and do not ever forget that! If you have a problem with that, you may leave now.”

They stayed.  Pete Dimas arrives at the Sugar Bowl every day at 5 a.m. and is always the last to leave late in the evening.  He is the greeter, though Katie Halkin is a more than wonderful hostess.  Pete is quality control in all aspects of the operation, from the dining rooms to the restrooms. He entertains toddlers and fidgety youngsters unfamiliar with the “graces of feasting.”

Pete is also the patron of Westville Girls Basketball, a squad that occupies a nice tribute wall at the Front of House.

I returned to the restaurant when the word of Pete Dimas’ magic spread about town, and I continue to marvel at the spotless condition of this once shabby eatery. Most importantly, I partake of the menu, of which nothing comes canned or frozen.  Freshness in all things is the rule of the day.  Fresh and wholesome foods are plated up by exacting chefs and cooks and presented by lovely and friendly waitresses.  The staff is well paid and treated with considerable respect.  I have yet to hear of any turnover at this restaurant.

Truly, the patron is the boss at the Sugar Bowl.

Pete Dimas makes sure that you, The Boss, will keep your job.

-30-

Born November 8, 1952 in Englewood Hospital, Chicago Illinois, Pat Hickey attended Chicago Catholic grammar and high schools, received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Loyola University in 1974, began teaching English and coaching sports at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, IL in 1975, married Mary Cleary in 1983, received a Master of Arts in English Literature from Loyola in 1987, taught at La Lumiere School in Indiana from 1988-1994, took a position as Director of Development with Bishop Noll

 Institute in Hammond, IN and then Leo High School in Chicago in 1996.  His wife Mary died in 1998 and Hickey returned with his three children to Chicago’s south side. From 1998 until 2019, it became obvious that Illinois and Chicago turned like Stilton cheese on a humid countertop. In that time, he wrote a couple of books and many columns for Irish American News. When the kids became independent and vital adults, he moved to Michigan City, Indiana, Hickey substitute teaches K-12 for Westville, Indiana schools and works as a tour guide/deckhand on the Emita II tour boat. He walks to the Michigan City Lighthouse every chance he gets.