35 Years and The Mandarin is Better Than Ever

by Jacqueline M. Newman

Restaurant Updates

Winter Volume: 2013 Issue: 20(4) page(s): 9

What does it take for a Greek pharmacist turned restauranteur to keep winning awards and keep his popular restaurant on its toes? He took a cur from a French restauranteur who told him that cooks come and go but the tastes in your eatery must remain. They are in the very special sauces you prepare and serve.

Working long hours every week, changing plans, even dishes when needed, having a great sense of taste, and a dedicated daughter who manages this gorgeous eatery, is what is needed, as is keeping detail in focus. That is what Greg Skedros does. Go there and see for your self when you visit his eatery, its address is above. When there, you will see it all come together, customer by customer, day by day, and taste their thirty-three in-house sauces made day by day.

Skedros was a pharmacist who received his degree in 1950. He served during the Korean War, then opened a drug store in 1961 on the corner of this restaurants present location. Then day in and day out, all seven of them, he tended to his customers. It is no different at TH e mandarin, but instead of medications, it is marvelous health-giving foods.

Over eighty and still in the kitchen, greeting customers by the door, or at their tables, and working as hard r harder than he expects of his help, Greg Skedros is tending to them one by one. It all comes together with delicious Chinese food, a dedicated staff, and a delightful daughter--Angel Manfredini. She is the other helping angel who manages side by side with her Dad. They and staff cook and care for their customers who fill their two hundred ten seats or are waiting for one near the door.

No ordinary place for chow, The mandarin has earned many deserving awards. In 2008 it was the Small Business of the year, in 2009 the same award but from the city. In 2010, there was the governors Award, and a banquet in his mansion for twenty-four of his guests followed by a Dessert Buffet for one hundred others. In Utah they love desserts, this Angel made most of them there, and makes most of them in the restaurant, too. There are other awards, too. In 2013 Salt Lake City Weekly called The Mandarin: The Best Chinese." That same year, Treasure Leisure told all The Mandarin was one of the top twenty-five restaurants in America. How right they were!

To stay current, something most restaurants rarely do, or rarely do well. Skedros went to Shanghai and Beijing the past October to check out things; this was not his first trip, and we bet it will not be his last. How did he get away? he closes the restaurant for three weeks ever Fall to clean and refresh everything. He hires Chinese chefs from San Francisco and China, houses them nearby, and has an international kitchen speaking Chinese, Spanish, and Greek.

Attention to detail is required to compound prescriptions. count pills, even call doctors to assure their script will do no damage to their customers. That was his good beginning. That same attention still functions today, every minute of every day. Go see and learn how important eyes and ears are in The Mandarin; Greg's tasting talents, too. Visit him and his Angel on the web at www.mandarinutah.com and in person. Check out the menu and decide among the many things you will want to order. Every one and every person who goes there is special. Their attention to you will be, too!

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