Editor's Note: Sometimes Saying Good-Bye to a Business Means Farewell to a Friend

MATTITUCK, NY — Customers lining up for gyros and spinach pie Sunday were greeted with the sad news that Greek Bites, which opened in the Mattituck shopping plaza in January 2015, will be closing its doors at the end of the evening.

A sign on the chalkboard outside thanked the restaurant's loyal customers and asked them to come visit the eatery's Moriches location.

Owner Dimitra Laopodis said that her family has plans to expand the Greek Bites in Moriches, and said while she's poured her heart into the Mattituck location, finding longtime staffers has proven a challenge.

Even during the last hours at the restaurant Sunday, she was in the kitchen, carefully serving Greek salads and homemade moussaka and pastitsio.

As reporters, we often see the comings and goings of businesses, new ventures whose owners work long hours to see dreams realized, chefs sprinkling recipes with love, artists creating jewelry and crafts, antiques collectors filling their shops with pieces from days gone by.

Despite their most valiant efforts, sometimes circumstances come into play that mean difficult decisions.

It's always a little sad, a bittersweet kind of story.

But then, there are times when saying good-bye to a business means saying farewell to a friend.

We may be reporters but we're also human. We live hectic, crazy lives, and keep erratic schedules not conducive to sit down dinners or home-cooked meals.

Basically, we eat a lot of take-out.

As a young girl who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, many of my friends were Greek. I went to Greek dances and I attended Greek festivals where Greek grandmothers gathered in the basements of churches preparing trays of pastitsio — a dish much like lasagna, but without the red sauce and seasoned with a hint of cinnamon and bechamel sauce — as well as fragrant moussaka, made with layers of eggplant, meat, potatoes and that same creamy bechamel.

Upstairs, men would be roasting lamb, pork and chicken for gyros, served with ruby tomatoes, tzatziki, and boisterous laughter.

Those foods, they summon up memories of childhood so strong that one bite brings me back to 1978, when I donned silver spandex pants and headed to the Greek church for a dance, hoping to catch the eye of the boy I liked. He came with another girl, and I soothed my broken heart with some spinach pie.

When Greek Bites opened, it was a happy surprise. I'd eaten at the Moriches location for many years, when my son was a Cub Scout in Center Moriches and I was so grateful for the home-cooked dishes to pick up on the way home from late den meetings, a busy working mom with no time to cook who still wanted to give her boy a nourishing meal.

The new Greek Bites location, situated as it was between Riverhead and Southold, was a good place to stop for dinner to-go, as I headed from one meeting to another on a busy weeknight.

But over the past year, while waiting for so many pieces of pastitsio to heat up and bring home for dinner, something happened.

The owner, Dimitra, and I, we became friends. It started with that first interview but, over time, the talk went from food to the things we working moms talk about. Our kids. Life. Movies we both liked. Funny stories and sad; spirited laughter and shared values.

In these busy lives we all lead, finding a new friend, it's surprising and special. And because all of our lives are so hectic, sometimes those friendships mean only a few moments of conversation slipped into a demanding schedule, a few happy bursts of laughter to brighten a day.

Those moments, they mean something.

And so, when I stopped by tonight for that last dinner at Greek Bites — making sure to get an order of pastitsio to go, for old times' sake — it wasn't easy.

But when I went into the kitchen to say good-bye to Dimitra, my friend, I realized something.

First off, she'll still be located in Moriches, serving up her home-cooked meals with a smile, for years to come, only a car ride away at a newly expanded location.

Even more important, though, some friendships, they're meant to last. Forged over plates of food and shared stories, the bonds of friendship transcend any brick and mortar shop.

Mixed in with all that moussaka, a real friendship was born.

And so to the Greek Bites family, I choose not to say farewell, but instead, thank you, for all the nourishing meals. For creating a cozy little haven in the heart of the North Fork where there was more than just an array of tasty recipes on the menu. There was also a business built on caring, and friendship. A business that will carry on wherever its owners are located, because the dedication to customers remains.

That's a recipe that'll last forever.

Greek Bites' in Moriches is located at 183 Montauk Highway. For additional information on that location, call 631-874-0700.