Siggy's serves up melting pot

By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer | Thursday, November 22, 2007 9:49 PM PST ∞

MURRIETA ---- The doors were open, the tables were full and volunteers streamed out of the kitchen through the afternoon, paper plates piled with turkey, cornbread stuffing and cranberry dressing.

It was the 15th free Thanksgiving dinner at Siggy's, when hungry families fill up, a profitable business gobbles up a loss, regulars become volunteers for the better part of a day, and former Southwest County residents return for old times' sake. In the parking lot at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Date Street on Thursday, an Infiniti G35 sport coupe and a shiny Toyota Land Cruiser were parked alongside a weathered Buick Sedan and a Chrysler minivan missing part of its grille.

Gina Stavrakis, whose father owns the restaurant, estimated that more than 500 people ate in the course of the afternoon. Ryan, a volunteer who declined to give his last name, said many of them asked for to-go boxes, a sign, he said, of hardship.

Richard and Josie Krikau made the drive from Hemet, a Thanksgiving Day tradition they've maintained since moving from Sun City in 2003. The Krikaus stop in every two or three months for lunch, they said. With family on the East Coast, the couple said, preparing a holiday feast for two people is more trouble than it's worth.

"We wouldn't miss this for anything," Richard Krikau said.

Three booths down from them, a single mother was hosting her two young daughters, who normally would have spent Thanksgiving with their father in Apple Valley, 90 miles north on Interstate 15. Across the aisle, a family had come up from Valley Center, 30 miles in the other direction.

Employees of the restaurant donated their own time, as did Ryan and 40 or 50 others. About half of those volunteers were regular customers, Ryan and Stavrakis estimated, while the rest were local residents responding to advertisements that Siggy's had put out.

The restaurant began preparing the turkeys on Tuesday. On Thursday, the cooks arrived at the crack of dawn. Volunteers said hungry people were lined up outside before 10:30 a.m., the planned opening time, prompting the staff to open the doors before the mashed potatoes were ready to be served.

Stavrakis and her father Jim Stavrakis said they annual tradition is a "thank you" to regular customers and an embrace of Southwest County residents, whether they need a free feast or not.

"All year round, they're here," Gina Stavrakis said. "We're giving back."

Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.