Drew's Family Restaurant Follows Home Cooked Tradition

has a tradition of providing the community home cooked meals since the 1950s, whether it’s stuffed peppers, gravies or pancakes.

Owned by Jerry Countouris and his brother, Louis, the Ardmore Boulevard favorite began as Dennis' restaurant. It started with their father, Spiro, and his partner.

“In 1980, my brother Peter and I took it over and Louis became involved a little bit later after school,” Jerry said. “In 1985, we pretty much tore the place down and rebuilt it as Drew’s. We named it after our brother who passed away.”

While many changes have occurred throughout the community and in the restaurant business, Jerry said one thing that has remained the same over the years is Drew’s commitment to homemade food.

“We grind our own meat daily and we peel our own potatoes for home fries,” he said. “Everything we do here is fresh made—nothing is processed.”

Another aspect that sets the restaurant apart is the fact that the owners are there every day.

“We are here to watch the quality and to make sure everything the restaurant stands for is adhered to on a daily basis,” he said. “We have employees who have been here for 30-plus years and we consider them a part of the family. They’re really not employees because we are in this together. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to do this.”

Everything at Drew’s is made to order—and the longtime servers know exactly what some customers want and how they want it.

“I want people to eat something they would think about cooking at home but either don’t have the resources or the finances,” he said. “If you made stuffed pork chops at home, it’d cost a lot more than how much you need to pay to come here and eat it. It’s high-quality food for very reasonable prices.”

Jerry also said they are known for a wide variety of specialties at Drew’s, including daily soup specials made fresh each morning, omelets, stroganoff, melts and salads. They are also well noted for their cakes, pies and desserts.

Jerry said he enjoys working at Drew’s because of the people who both come in for a meal and those who work with him.

“The people of Forest Hills, Braddock, North Braddock and the Woodland Hills area are hardworking, family-oriented people who enjoy our restaurant and we enjoy them as customers,” he said.

In the end, it’s all about supporting each other as neighbors, he said.

“When people support an independent restaurant, they’re supporting our local area,” Jerry said. “We are paying local people and local taxes, and we support local purveyors also.”