MY BIG FAT GREEK SHEDDING
One star chef’s Mediterranean diet made her staff well-oiled machines
On a warm weekday evening in late November, Nicola Sambazis — a server at the Midtown West Greek restaurant Loi Estiatorio — handled the bustling outdoor dining scene expertly.
But just four months ago, she said, she would have struggled to keep up.
“I was morbidly obese and wouldn’t have been able to walk nearly half as much without puffing and panting and my whole body hurting,” the 55-year-old told The Post. “When I came onboard here in July, chef Loi put me on the road to saving my life.”
Chef Loi is Maria Loi, a blond-bobbed superstar in her 60s who is known as the Julia Child of Greece. Instead of waxing poetic on the beauty of butter, however, she touts the health benefits of extra-virgin olive oil. In fact, Loi, author of the cult favorite cookbook “The Greek Diet,” has made it her life’s work to teach the world about the Mediterranean approach to eating, which emphasizes plants, nuts, olive oil and seafood as key ingredients.
When the pandemic hit, Loi set out to make her 10 employees, some of whom were dealing with serious ailments, as healthy as possible. “So many people were getting sick and eating and drinking to excess. As restaurant workers, we were at higher risk for contracting the virus than people who stayed at home,” she said. “Food for me is like medicine.”
With Loi’s guidance, her team — who she considers family — have been taking their medicine dutifully.
Loi’s food philosophy focuses on quality ingredients instead of calories, and emphasizes pleasure. All staffers begin their shifts by drinking a spoon of her branded extravirgin olive oil, which costs $25 at Whole Foods. Loi said it strengthens the heart, and while she’s partial to her own, any good quality extra-virgin olive oil will do.
Come mealtime, they have the run of the menu, which Loi — who arrives at the restaurant at 8 every morning — helps prepare. Staff favorites include the village salad, a mix of tomatoes, red onions, green peppers and feta cheese, and cannellini bean soup or “fasolada” as it’s known in Greek. Fish dishes, including grilled branzino and wild cod en papillote, are also popular.
Loi touts a diet that is proven to have numerous benefits, said Dr. Stefanos N. Kales, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who co-hosts talks with her at conferences around the world. “There is plenty of research indicating that a Greek Mediterranean diet reduces your risk of chronic illnesses, cancer, cardiovascular disease and obesity,” he said. “People who follow it live longer, sleep better and have a higher quality of life.” Her staff all say they’re converts. Sambazis said that she was 270 pounds, at just 5-foot-4, when she started the job this past summer. Her knees and back ached, she had sleep apnea and was sluggish. “I was miserable,” she said. “My doctor at Mt. Sinai told me six months ago that I better do something to lose weight and get healthier, and that something turned out to be Maria.”
She’s already lost 24 pounds, and continues to drop more weekly. She’s also sleeping soundly and is largely pain free. “I saw my doctor two weeks ago, and he looked at me twice in amazement.”
Many others on the team say they’ve had miraculous results.
Chef de cuisine Felipe Teutle, 36, and sous chef Jesus Sandoval, 41, have worked for Loi for eight years. But since the pandemic started, and they ceded their diets to Loi, both men have managed to lose weight and — to their shock — control their Type 2 diabetes. Just by eating healthier, they’ve both been able to go off Metformin: a medication that helps stabilize blood sugar levels.
Loi’s co-owner, Alex Antimisiaris, 56, has stopped taking cholesterol medication, lowered his blood pressure and dropped 30 pounds since the spring. He said all of the older men in his family have had heart attacks or suffer from heart disease. “I was at my doctor a few weeks ago, and he looked at me in shock and told me that I had basically escaped my family history,” he said.
Loi’s goodwill also reaches a larger community: She delivers meals to numerous hospitals in the city. She does a daily meal pickup for the homeless in the front of her restaurant, stuffing brown paper bags full of the same healthy meals her staff and customers enjoy, including roast chicken and spinach pie.
For Dara Bliss Davenport, the restaurant’s corporate chef and partner in the Loi brand, the diet has benefits that even go beyond the physical.
“[Loi’s] food has also kept me in a good mood during the pandemic, which has been anxiety provoking for so many of us,” said Davenport. “Let’s just say I feel healed and nourished in more ways than one.”