Greek transplant

A random meeting, a quick romance and being swept away to an exotic beachside home sounds like the start to any great romance flick, right?

Instead it was the start to one of Cape Girardeau's more unique restaurant and bars, the California Juice Club.

Kostas Demopoulos was visiting his parents, who owned Dino's, a fried chicken, mojo and gourmet pizza joint that had been open since 1969. Autumn (not yet Demopoulos) was a journalism student at Southeast Missouri State University. He owned a beachside juice bar in Paros, Greece, called The California Juice Club. Sparks flew and soon they were together in Greece.

"I went to Greece to visit and never came back," said California Juice Club co-owner Autumn Demopoulos.

Soon they were married and started a family. According to Autumn Demopoulos, that is when things started to get interesting. "After our first child we decided we needed something more substantial than a beach bar in Paros, Greece," she said.

Two bowls of tequila lime chicken soup awaited their accompanying crackers before being delivered at the California Juice Club.

That was when they decided to open the California Juice Club in Cape Girardeau in the same building that had been Dino's, all the while keeping the juice bar in Greece.

Two regulars, Jan and Steve Gerard finish their meal while Airek Beauchamp tends the bar Friday, October 26, 2007 at the California Juice Club. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

"We went back and forth for about three-and-a-half years, spending half of our time here and the other half in Paros," Autumn Demopoulos said.

"We really wanted a college cafe where you could go and study and smoke and drink with chill ambient European-style music. The atmosphere is so important. We also wanted to offer really good Mediterranean, fusion and vegetarian foods," she said.

The couple started out with a predominantly Mediterranean menu with options like crepes and salads but after several requests for fried chicken, mojos and pizza began to filter in, they decided to comply.

"We literally had to go out and buy a fryer so that we could start frying up chicken and mojos. The Dino's customers swarmed us. For the first six months to a year they supported us. Now there's a little mojo business and a lot of Mediterranean ordered," Autumn Demopoulos said.

A creative ethic to bartending supplements the food menu.

Autumn Demopoulos said Juice Club employees like to make creative cocktail combinations.

The California Juice Club kitchen is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. The bar is open until 1:30 a.m.