Goes the weasel

Pop Diner gives West Village 24-hour kapow and Detroit-style wrap sandwiches

The mysterious heretofore unknown Pop Diner took off the wraps on Wednesday, welcoming early visitors to come in and preview its colorful, kitschy space. The restaurant, which soft opens February 7, is a new 24-hour diner with a bar. It is located next-door to Max's Wine Dive in the West Village in the old Borders bookstore space.

Owner Nik Gjonaj is from Detroit, where his family owns a number of restaurants, including Luca Chophouse; in 2008, he received an award by the Albanian American National Association for Albanian of the Year. He has a connection to Dallas through his cousin Kola Gjonaj, who lives here and is a partner in Pop Diner.

The menu is dubbed "diner food," but it's more like glorified fast food, with nachos, hot dogs and burgers. The signature item is the "Naani," a wrap-style chicken sandwich popular in Detroit.

The restaurant is a large space, with high ceilings that serve as a reminder that this Borders used to be two-story. A row of cream-colored banquettes sits on the right, with a bar on the left. Nik says the theme is pop culture, but it's a specific era: the '80s. One brick wall is covered with a series of prints of '80s figures from music and film such as Molly Ringwald and Debbie Harry. An unusual portrait of Thriller-era Michael Jackson is painted on a bank of recycled cassette tapes.

A Lichtenstein-ian pop-art mural in the center of the room broadcasts the restaurant's motto: "Eat Good." The bar feels more '90s than '80s, with its panels of glass and icy-cool blue light. Cocktails include spiked milkshakes and a "Pop Rocks" martini.

The menu is dubbed "diner food," but it's more like glorified fast food, with nachos, hot dogs and burgers, including a $9.99 option with three patties stacked atop each other. But there are a few salads, including an $11.99 Cobb and an $8.99 Greek, and a page of breakfast options that include banana-chocolate-chip pancakes for $6.99. The signature item is the "Naani," a wrap-style chicken sandwich popular in Detroit. A half dozen dinners priced at $11.99 each include wings, fish and chips, and chicken-fried steak.

Regardless of the nature of the food, Pop Diner's 24-hour status gives it an edge in West Village. The only competition is Buzzbrews, with locations on Lemmon Avenue and at Fitzhugh Avenue and Central Expressway.

Pop art mural at Pop Diner.

Photo by Teresa Gubbins

Pop art mural at Pop Diner.

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Market News

Small specialty grocer in Celina is a go-to for imported foods

Di Mantzios Greek & Italian Gourmet Market

There's a gourmet shop in downtown Celina offering imported European foods: Called Di Mantzio’s Greek and Italian Gourmet Market, it's a small grocery and cafe at 204 E. Pecan St., Ste. C, where it's bringing in goods you might not find elsewhere in town.

Owner Vasilios Mantzios is a native of Greece and former NATO military serviceman who moved to the U.S. in 2008. Missing the foods he'd enjoyed in Greece and Italy, he started a booth at the Frisco Fresh Market in 2015 selling olive oils, Balsamic dressing, olives, and Mediterranean salt. In late 2024, he made the move to open the storefront in Celina (coincidentally down Pecan Street from Mangiamo Italian Market & Deli, another highly personal deli and market, making pecan Street a fun destination for a foodie field trip).

Di Mantzio's carries olive oils, pizza, cheese, charcuterie boards, flour, refrigerated meals, and meatballs with a Greek red sauce, made from a family recipe from Mantzios' aunts and their grandmothers. He also imports marinated lamb and beef meatballs from Greece.

"I only have things that I would put on my table to personally eat — I pick out my items by the quality because I don't want people to have issues with the food," Mantzios says. "I have my mother test everything, so if you pass her, you're in the store."

While he does offer Greek foods such as a recent special with beef kebabs and pita bread, there's a big demand for Italian items. He has a big selection of cheese: parmigiano reggiano, feta, mozzarella, and cheese from Il Forteto. Dry goods include Molino Paolo Mariani Manitaly flour, Caputo gluten-free flour, and Hellenic Farms and Lia extra virgin olive oil.

Mantzios prioritizes small, family-owned businesses because they enjoy what they're providing to customers and value quality.

Di Mantzios Greek & Italian Gourmet MarketDi Mantzios

On the prepared food front, he does pizza using a wood-fired crust imported from Pizza Food Love in Italy, delivered to the shop every three weeks. The base can be topped with ingredients from Tuscany, Italy for a truly authentic experience. More prepared foods are one of the biggest requests he gets from customers, and it's a category he's continuing to expand, as well as adding wine and beer.

They also have cakes and desserts such as cannoli, baklava, Greek rice pudding, French macarons, and gelato from Gelatys.

The interior is neatly organized, with refrigerated foods as well as Greek and European decor such as pestle and mortar, a gladiator helmet, and Greek and Italian flags pinned to the walls.

Mantzios thrives from the personal contact he gets with customers, and they find him equally charming as well.

"The bulk of my customers come from Prosper and Celina, and Celina is the number one growing city with people coming from all around who can appreciate what we are doing," Mantzios says.

supermarkets openings