TZATZIKI ME CRAZY! Eau Claire's longtime Greek restaurant officially passed hands between family members when founder Lampros Pentanitis sold the business to his niece, Tasha Moen. Of the things that haven't changed – hey, don't fix what ain't broken! – is the tzatziki recipe. Now, that very sauce can be purchased by the bottle. (Photo courtesy Visit Eau Claire)

There are few Eau Claire area small businesses, let alone restaurants, that have been around 40-plus years. While some things are bound to change over a tenure like that, Olympic Flame Greek Restaurant’s recipe for success – and its tzatziki sauce – hasn’t.

Olympic Flame (2920 London Rd., Eau Claire) may have seen a decor refresh following the retirement of Lampros Pentanitis, who opened the eatery in 1980 after immigrating from Greece, but his original recipes are still brought to life on customers’ plates.

Now, locals can enjoy one Olympic Flame recipe at their leisure – just buy a bottle of the restaurant's tzatziki sauce and keep it in your refrigerator.

Announced in late September, the sauce is now available in 12-ounce bottles for $5.99, both at the restaurant and one local grocery store: Hy-Vee (2424 E. Clairemont Ave., Eau Claire). 

The sauce’s by-the-bottle debut was brought to life thanks to Pentanitis’ niece, Tasha Moen, who has owned Olympic Flame for about seven years.

“Bottling and selling the sauce has been a dream of mine ever since I took over,” Moen said. “The tzatziki uses my uncle Lampros’ recipe, which he handed down to me when I purchased Olympic Flame from him in October 2019 so he could retire.”

In just its first couple of weeks on sale at Hy-Vee, the tzatziki sauce has needed to be restocked multiple times, she said.

That news likely would have come as a shock to a decades-ago version of Pentanitis. Back in 2000, Pentanitis told the Leader-Telegram Greek food was “a hard sell in Eau Claire” when Olympic Flame first opened.

Today, Olympic Flame is a true staple of the Eau Claire eat scene. There’s no shortage of praise for the restaurant’s menu – from its delectable shawarma-loaded gyros to newer menu items like the gyro burger and baklava for dessert; even less so of the warm memories locals associate with it.

Get out there, buy a bottle of your own and enjoy an extra helping of local tzatziki (or two). We won't judge!

Purchase a bottle of the Olympic Flame Greek Restaurant (2920 London Rd., Eau Claire) tzatziki sauce at the eatery or at Hy-Vee (2424 E. Clairemont Ave., Eau Claire), $5.99/bottle • Keep up with the longtime local restaurant on Facebook