There’s a (probably unfair) stereotype that members of Gen Z don’t want to work hard. That’s certainly not the case for 29-year-old Dimitri Pantzos, owner of Pizza Lyfe, Lyfe Cafe, and Sweet Lyfe in Westport. He’s been working in the restaurant industry since, essentially, he was born. His family owned Fairfield’s Quattro Pazzi, had a diner, operated the food service on one of Norwalk’s golf courses, and expanded Quattro Pazzi to Stamford all before he finished elementary school. “I spent every day after school at one of our restaurants,” he tells Westport Lifestyle. “I was scrubbing mussels at 10 years old.” His family, he says, always encouraged him to explore a career outside the restaurant world, but he was hooked: by his junior year of high school he was working at Rebeccas in Greenwich. “I just wanted to be in the kitchen and learn,” he says. “I loved making customers happy, creating experiences, seeing them enjoy what you put together. I loved everything about it.”
In 2015—mere months after he graduated from high school—Dimitri and his aunt Kathy opened Organika in Southport. The vegan eatery was an immediate success, and less than a year later, a second Organika launched in New Canaan—and this time Dimitri, just 19, opened it by himself. A location in Ridgefield soon followed. “I loved what I did,” he recalls. “It was a great, wild ride, but it was also a very expensive concept to run.” When a buyer wanted the New Canaan and Ridgefield locations, Dimitri sold them and left the customer-facing world to work for a consumer packaged goods company called Violife, known for their vegan cheese alternatives. Then he got a phone call from his uncle Gino. The space where Pizza Lyfe now sits had become available. Did Dimitri want to open a pizzeria?
“I was enjoying the corporate thing, but my uncle convinced me to come see the space. I loved the building. I love the area.” He was drawn back to the restaurant world before he knew it. “I was like ‘alright, let’s do it.’” The uncle-nephew duo signed the lease, but unfortunately, shortly after, Gino was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an aggressive, rare type of bone marrow cancer. “That’s where the name Pizza Lyfe came about,” says Dimitri. “A fresh start at life.”
Pizza Lyfe officially opened in December of 2022, and even in Westport’s crowded pizza scene, made a name for itself thanks to Dimitri’s sourdough, whole-grain infused crust. (The pizza has won Westport Lifestyle’s Readers Choice “Best Pizza” for the last 3 years.) Another Pizza Lyfe in Milford soon followed. Dimitri found the Westport diners to be particularly warm and familial, so when the cafe across the street from Pizza Lyfe became available about a year later, he saw another opportunity to cater to his clientele–and himself. “I love really strong cold brew, and I wanted a good bacon, egg, and cheese,” he says. “That was the concept for Lyfe Cafe.”
Like everything he does, Dimitri threw himself in whole-cloth, learning how to make croissants, sourcing free-range eggs and great bacon, and getting “everything perfect.” Lyfe Cafe filled another niche in the Westport dining scene and was another hit, thanks in no small part to Dimitri’s willingness to adapt the menu based on customer requests. “People said they wanted a salmon bowl, so now we have a salmon bowl there. I saw the dot cakes [were trending earlier this year], so we put them out and were selling 100-200 of them a day. At the end of the day, I’m here for the customers, so if someone says they want something, I’ll find a way to incorporate it.”
If the viral dot cakes weren’t proof enough that Dimitri is plugged into the desires of social-media-forward diners, take a look at his newest spot: the Greek-style froyo and candy shop Sweet Lyfe. Upscale frozen yogurt places have been popping up all over N.Y.C., boasting hours-long lines and Instagrammable concoctions, but Dimitri didn’t want to open something derivative: if he was going to make frozen yogurt, he was going to make it right. Sweet Lyfe makes all their own bases in-house, and Dimitri even got a pasteurization machine (which required a license from the state) in order to make sure the yogurt could be authentically Greek.
In the midst of opening three restaurants in less than five years, Dimitri is also the proud dad to his 17-month old son. “I couldn’t do this without my wife. There are long stretches where I don’t see him. It’s not easy, but it’s the sacrifice I have to make right now, striving to do these restaurants well.” It’s certainly been worth it: “I have people that say I had Lyfe Cafe for breakfast, Pizza Lyfe for dinner, and Sweet Lyfe for dessert. That’s a special feeling,” he says. “I love food. I love creating experiences and good environments for people.”
Pizza Lyfe is located at 833 Post Rd. E, and Sweet Lyfe is next door. Lyfe Cafe is across the street at 793 Post Rd. E.