Three years ago, Alex and Rena Gabrielides bought a home in Dripping Springs—sight unseen—and moved across the world to a town they’d never visited. How did they choose Drip?
After zeroing in on the Austin area, “I saw the name Dripping Springs,” Rena says, “and I thought it was cute.”
Born and raised in South Africa, Alex and Rena are Greek by heritage and have lived everywhere from London to the Bahamas, owning several restaurants along the way. Alex’s connection to the food business reaches back even further, as he hails from three generations of butchers. “My grandparents had a butchery in South Africa, and my parents learned the trade, and we learned the trade,” he says.
Now the Gabrielides family is bringing that experience—and their Greek roots—to Ziggi’s Cafe right here on Ranch Road 12.
Named for their beloved family dog, Ziggi’s specializes in what Alex and Rena call “Greek street food.”
“Everywhere you walk in Greece, you’ll see these little shops,” Alex explains. Think of it as the Greek equivalent of grabbing a burger or slice of pizza—a quick, casual meal locals enjoy throughout the islands.
The Ziggi’s menu features pitas stuffed with pork, chicken, or falafel; grilled souvlaki skewers; handmade savory pies wrapped in flaky phyllo; and Greek dips served with warm pita. A tempting pastry case holds everything from croissants and muffins to decadent cakes and Greek specialties like bougatsa and ravani.
Before the lunch and dinner crowd arrives, Ziggi’s starts the day as a full-service coffee shop, offering a wide range of hot and cold coffee drinks, teas, matcha, and more, with the couple’s 17-year-old son, Maximos, serving as head barista.
For Alex and Rena, opening Ziggi’s was a chance to bring something different to Dripping Springs. With barbecue, pizza, and Mexican food already well represented, they saw an opportunity to add another cuisine to the mix.
They also wanted to offer healthy, simple food. Meat arrives fresh and is prepared in-house, never frozen, and much of the menu is grilled. Customers can easily keep things light, pairing a chicken souvlaki skewer, for example, with a fresh Greek salad. Chicken is brined overnight, and the meat is seasoned the way Alex learned from generations before him. Even the spice sprinkled over the fries comes from an old recipe of Rena’s grandmother.
Other menu items are just as personal. The taramasalata—a creamy Greek dip served with pita—is Rena’s own recipe. Cake Pontykaki, a decadent chocolate “mouse cake,” is imported from Greece. The family calls it “Sir Leroy,” a nickname their daughter Markella, now 19, gave it when she was little. For Alex and Rena, it’s a nostalgic taste of home and childhood—a special-occasion treat that has since become part of their own family story.
But when asked which dish best represents Ziggi’s, they choose something surprisingly simple: the Greek salad.
Made fresh each morning with cucumber, tomato, onion, feta, and olives—never lettuce—the salad represents more than fresh ingredients. At the Greek family table, it traditionally sits at the center, shared by everyone.
“Everybody just picks from that salad, and we dip our bread in there,” Rena says. “In an odd way, the salad creates the atmosphere.”
That sense of sharing and hospitality is at the heart of what they hope to create at Ziggi’s. Back in South Africa, the Gabrielides family welcomed 30 to 40 relatives and friends to their home every Sunday. Here, thousands of miles from extended family, their new cafe has become another way to gather people around them.
“We don’t have family here,” Rena says. “So it’s kind of like us bringing in family by having people come into Ziggi’s.” And Dripping Springs, it seems, has welcomed them much the same way. Asked what they love about their new home, Rena doesn’t hesitate: “The people. They’ve taken us in like they’ve known us all their lives.”
That’s exactly how Alex and Rena hope customers feel at Ziggi’s: like they’ve walked into a best friend’s home or their grandmother’s kitchen. And for a couple who says they still don’t know many people in town, opening their doors to Dripping Springs seems like a pretty good way to start.
@ziggiscafe