By Janet Stoica

A short trip to Millbury could be your most rewarding 2021 adventure since we’ve all started to wander out of our homes lately. 

The first stop might be the recently opened Mykonos Café & Bakery on Elm Street, possibly the most spectacular bakery in the area.

This unique, relaxing place takes you into its arms with the heavenly aromas of freshly baked croissants, rolls, and muffins and scores of American, Greek, and Italian pastries, that make it difficult to pick just one. Of course, you cannot and will not pick just one…please, have two, or even take some of these delectable confections home to your family and friends.

Also look for the spanakopita (spinach pie), the baklava, spinach and feta calzones, cheese pies, koulouria (sesame and honey sweets), kataifi (walnuts served in a finely stranded pastry), saragli (rolled baklava with spices and nuts), sizeable cinnamon rolls, fruit macaroons, cannolis, cheese pies, cheesecake rounds, eclairs, and Danish, altogether the wonderful display of an artful bakery at its finest.

Bagel varieties are plentiful from plain to sesame to French toast with or without butter or cream cheese varieties. 

For breakfast, try the avocado toast, which is made with fresh-sliced avocado, one or two eggs on your choice of bread (my choice was a flaky croissant), and, if you like, bacon or sausage. The bread is lightly drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with hot pepper flakes, just enough to give it a kick. You are in flavor town heaven, make no mistake about it.

For lunch, try one of the several daily soups, perhaps their signature Greek lemon soup.

Mykonos Café & Bakery presents a neat, clean, and charming environment for their customers to enjoy. Sure, take your laptop or iPad here to work, play, or read and settle into one of the high-back chairs by the large front windows, the comfy upholstered chairs, or a centered table.

I haven’t seen a bake shop like this since the days of Lederman’s and Widoff’s on Water Street in Worcester, which brings me to Chris Andrianopoulos, owner of A & D Pizzeria and Pub, located across the street from Mykonos Café & Bakery and husband of Mykonos’ owner, Sonja Andrianopoulos.

It seems that Chris, who was born and brought up in Worcester, used to visit the Water Street bakeries when he was a kid. As a tribute to his vivid recollections of those aromatic and delightful emporiums, Chris now bakes wonderfully soft and light bulkie rolls on the weekends for his wife’s bakery. He also includes rolls, breads, bagels, spinach pies, and stuffed grape leaves while in his baking zone. 

But the full-time bakers here are the rock stars of Mykonos Bakery: Sonja’s parents, Natasha and George Andrea. They operated their own bakery in Greece before emigrating to the USA. This energetic duo has combined their exceptional talents to bring color, variety, and flavor to our area and you really do have to see their creations to appreciate their art. 

Sonja Andrianopoulos is a financial bank adviser who works full-time at a Boston banking institution. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in math and computer science and an MBA from Clark University. She is currently working on her PhD in finance. 

Sonja and Chris met at a dance held by St. Spyridon Church in Worcester. Married since 2004, they have two children in high school.

All along she’s had a vision: “This bakery has been my goal for the last 10 years. I grew up in my parents’ bakery in Greece and it is a pleasure to have my dream realized.”

“This used to be a drinking establishment,” Chris said. “When the former owner wanted to sell, I knew this would be a good opportunity for Sonja. When we purchased the property last year, we completely renovated the building, putting in floor-to-ceiling windows at the building front, skylights, walls, painting, tile work, and fixtures.”

Mykonos has been open since January 23. “We’re still looking at our menu offerings and operations,” says Sonja. “Soon we hope to have a grand opening but not until we feel it’s right. We’re letting our customers decide what their favorites are, and we will focus on those choices.” 

Catering for corporate functions and parties is on the menu too.

And the name? Daughter Sophia picked the bakery name as it is one of the Greek islands they all hope to visit in the near future. Their son, George, once had the task of peeling a 50 lb. sack of onions. George’s lesson in hard labor left an impression on him.

“This bakery is an option for our children’s future.” explained Sonja. “I wanted to bring something from my homeland here. This is a passion for me and my parents and, frankly, I want to teach my children work ethics and want them to see what manual labor is like.” Chris further stated, “We don’t want them to take everything for granted. We want them to know where they came from. Teaching them life lessons is so important.” 

Chris also described how A & D Pizzeria and Pub was recently renovated.  “We updated and redecorated our restaurant and bar area., We’ll have a new pub-style menu, but the bar area is not open yet. We’re waiting for the COVID situation to stabilize and hope to re-open soon. We finished putting the final touches on the bar area a few weeks ago and will continue to make a few more updates, including hiring more staff. We also have a very nice function room that can accommodate 75 patrons. Our ideas came from many sources, including visits to Boston’s North End and Federal Hill restaurants.” 

The new bar is u-shaped, includes a seamless granite countertop, along with mahogany wood flairs, and unique pendant cylinder lighting over the bar seating area.  The pizzeria’s restaurant is bright, orderly, and well-lit with several booths available for diners. Its menu is filled with appetizing selections, including cocktails, soups and salads, calzones, gourmet pizzas, specialty subs and clubs, burgers and wraps, beef and chicken, pasta and seafood, desserts, plus a kids menu. “We still serve up our prime rib special on weekends,” says Chris, “and weather-permitting, our outside patio is very popular.”

The couple has given back to the town too by sponsoring local baseball and basketball teams, and delivered complimentary pizza and subs to the local police, fire, and emergency personnel. They are generous to many worth causes in town and the surrounding area.

Mykonos Café & Bakery, 49 Elm Street, Millbury; phone: (508) 917-8127. Hours: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Mon-Sat; Sunday 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. www.mykonosbakery.com  FB: Mykonos Café & Bakery.

A & D Pizzeria and Pub, 60 Elm Street, Millbury. Phone: (508) 865-9013. Hours: 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. daily. www.adpizzapub.com   FB:  A & D Pizza and Pub.

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Contact Janet at jstoica@

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