Edesma Greek eatery closes in Franklin Square

After only seven months, Edesma in Franklin Square has closed. The restaurant, owned by brothers Vassilis and George Triantopoulos, was the rare local Greek restaurant that forged a path between pricey piscine palace and cheap gyro joint.

George Triantopoulos, the chef, cooked the kind of homestyle Greek dishes that are hard to find in restaurants, and the gentle prices (mezze under $20, most mains under $30) made it the kind of place you could go for a casual weeknight dinner.

Certainly there were familiar items such as spanakopita, gigantes (giant beans), moussaka and avgolemono soup. But also tourlou (stewed vegetables), ravasaki (cheese-filled, honey-drizzled phyllo packets), dakos salad (tomatoes, olives and capers served on Cretan barley rusks), tigania (braised pork), kritharaki (mixed seafood with tomato and feta over orzo) and plevrakia, lamb ribs braised with herbs in their own juices.

Vassilis said after a series of disagreements with their landlord, the brothers decided to find a new location. He said they are looking at two possibilities and hope to launch Edesma 2.0 in early 2025. "Hospitality is what I do for a living," he said. "And this restaurant was my dream."

Vassilis also posted on the restaurant’s website that people who are holding Edesma gift cards "may hold on to them until we reopen" or use them at Plori in Carle Place.

Franklin Square residents looking for a closer (and cheaper) Greek fix might check out Greek Brothers, three blocks east of Edesma, where two other Greek brothers, Stavros and Giannis Metekidis, are running an excellent new gyro shop.