When owner Harold Xeconimos took over Sorrento of Arbutus during 2020 and the lockdown period, he knew he wanted to elevate the menu yet keep all of its neighborhood glory and charm with the pizza and cheesesteak subs that always delivered. On his first visit to Arbutus on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, Nestor gets the tale of another Dundalk native coming from Loafers on Route 40 and continuing the great tradition of the food and hospitality in Southwest Baltimore.

Nestor Aparicio interviews Harold Xeconimos, the new owner of Sorrento’s in Arbutus, about his journey from Loafers in Ellicott City. Harold discusses the challenges of buying the restaurant during the pandemic and his efforts to elevate the menu, including adding pastas, seafood, and a signature crab cake. He highlights the importance of community and family, mentioning his long-term relationship with the previous owner. Harold also talks about the success of their crab cake, which has become a signature item, and their plans to expand and partner with local organizations. Nestor, a regular customer, praises the quality of the food and the hospitality.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Interview Bill Cole at Sorrento’s about his eating habits and his experience with the restaurant during the upcoming show segment.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Order and eat a shrimp cheesesteak at Sorrento’s during the current visit.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – If Sorrento’s becomes a sponsor, promote the restaurant on future episodes of the show.
• [ ] Send a couple of crab cakes to Jim Schwartz to welcome him back to Sorrento’s.

Nestor Aparicio’s Introduction and Background

• Nestor Aparicio introduces himself and the show, mentioning their location in Arbutus, Baltimore.
• Nestor reminisces about Jim Schwartz, a world champion from Arbutus, and his memories of eating Little League pizza at Sorrento’s.
• Nestor mentions Harold’s ownership of Sorrento’s, noting that Harold moved from Loafers in Ellicott City.
• Nestor shares his personal connection to Harold, having known him for 15 years and being familiar with his name on the restaurant.

Harold’s Background and Connection to Arbutus

• Nestor and Harold discuss their Greek heritage, with Harold identifying as a Highlandtown resident.
• Nestor shares his experiences at the Greek Festival and his long-standing relationships with Greek people and businesses.
• Harold explains his connection to Arbutus, mentioning his long-term friendship with the previous owner of Sorrento’s.
• Harold recounts how the previous owner’s wife reached out to him about potential employment, leading to the opportunity to buy Sorrento’s.

Challenges and Changes in Ownership

• Harold discusses the challenges of buying Sorrento’s during the Covid-19 pandemic and the changes in the restaurant industry.
• Nestor and Harold talk about the transition from a traditional sub and pizza shop to a more elevated menu, including Italian and Greek dishes.
• Harold shares his vision for Sorrento’s, focusing on family-friendly dining and community engagement.
• Harold mentions their partnerships with local organizations like the CFG Arena and UMBC to expand their reach.

Menu Expansion and Signature Dishes

• Harold explains the addition of new items to the menu, such as pastas, seafood platters, and center-plate items.
• Nestor and Harold discuss the popularity of their crab cakes, with Harold crediting his long-time chef for the successful recipe.
• Harold highlights the importance of maintaining traditional items like pizza and cheese steaks while introducing new dishes.
• Nestor praises the quality and variety of the menu, noting the restaurant’s ability to attract a diverse clientele.

Community and Legacy

• Harold expresses his pride in continuing the legacy of Sorrento’s, which has been a community staple for over 60 years.
• Nestor and Harold discuss the importance of local ownership and the impact of independent businesses on the community.
• Harold shares his commitment to providing quality food and excellent service to maintain customer loyalty.
• Nestor mentions his own experiences with local businesses and the significance of community-driven establishments.

Personal Connections and Future Plans

• Nestor and Harold discuss their personal connections to the community, including Nestor’s long-standing relationship with his sponsor, John Martin.
• Harold talks about the importance of connecting with the neighborhood and giving back to the community.
• Nestor shares his excitement about the growth and development of local businesses on the West Side of the county.
• Harold expresses his hope to continue the legacy of Sorrento’s and contribute to the community’s success.

Final Thoughts and Future Visits

• Nestor and Harold discuss future visits and potential collaborations, with Nestor planning to try new menu items like the shrimp cheesesteak.
• Nestor shares his positive experiences at Sorrento’s, including interactions with fans and the quality of the food.
• Harold mentions the importance of customer feedback and continuous improvement to enhance the dining experience.
• Nestor concludes the segment by expressing his appreciation for the hospitality and quality of the restaurant, and plans to return with more guests.

Nestor Aparicio 0:00
Welcome home, we are W N S T A M 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, we’re positively here in beautiful downtown Arbutus, hometown of world champion Jim Schwartz, who’s texted me a couple times today, and he told me he’s like, man, I ate a lot of Little League pizza at Sorrento’s back in the day, he said, but I can’t imagine a crab cake there, and we have new ownership here. It’s not new, because it’s been about six years, seven years since Harold came over from Loafers. I knew him over at Loafers, at a great sports bar over in Ellicott City on Route 40 West, and I, I haven’t seen you, probably like 15 years. I knew your name was on the place here, but I told your partner Harold earlier today. I said I do the Maryland crab cake tour, so all my algorithm crab cakes show up all the time, and either somebody was bragging about your crab cake or you add a thing up or whatever, and I saw it, and I’m like, I was looking for some new places I haven’t been six, seven years I’ve been doing a crab cake tour, I’m like everybody’s told me about your place, and I didn’t even know you owned it, because I didn’t know who owned it until I looked it up, maybe about three, four weeks ago, and I was just looking for new places in June. I even said on the air, I’m looking for new places. I’m back at Green Mount Station next week, I got a couple of other new places up my sleeve for July and August, but you have this famous crab cake, it showed up, and I rode over, and everybody’s like, “Course, I know who you are. I’ve known you forever. I was like, “Harold owns a place. I’m like, “I know Harold, and this town’s great in it. I mean, Baltimore’s awesome, and

Harold Xeconimos 1:31
absolutely.

Nestor Aparicio 1:33
Now you’re an old Greek guy, you West Side, East Side? What are you?

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Harold Xeconimos 1:36
I’m Holland Town.

Speaker 1 1:37
I did not know that.

Harold Xeconimos 1:38
Uh-huh, Highlandtown and Dundalk, you’re from Dundalk.

Nestor Aparicio 1:45
I knew a penny with your last name,

Harold Xeconimos 1:48
Penny

Nestor Aparicio 1:49
X Comminos, correct? I grew up with a penny commonose.

Harold Xeconimos 1:53
Okay, but I didn’t

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Nestor Aparicio 1:55
listen. I was at the Greek Festival at St. Nicholas,

Harold Xeconimos 1:58
okay?

Nestor Aparicio 1:59
They only let me come for a couple hours, I’m an honorary Greek over there, because my name is Nestor, and I look a little bit Greek. I dated a Greek girl once, but man, the Greek festival over there,

Harold Xeconimos 2:08
it’s awesome. My

Nestor Aparicio 2:08
roommate was John Rafalidas for so many years. All my Greek friends, I grew up in the Caplan, just GP 66 so, and all my sponsors are Greek, and that’s why I’m, they’re trying to fatten me up. It’s why GBMC is mad at me, because every time I go on a Greek joint, before I came here earlier, you’re already offering me the desserts before I even get to the crab cake or the salad, but I had a great salad. I had a slice of pizza, which is legendary over here. I’m taking a cheese steak home for dinner tonight, and I did have your crab cake, so give me your crab cake story or your recipe, and the story of how loafers went from there to here, because you bought this place in the middle of Covid, man, like it’s like my buddies over in Catonsville at State Fair, they opened three restaurants in and around Covid in three years. Yes, y’all are warriors, man. Yeah,

Harold Xeconimos 2:54
quite a challenge, definitely tested our survival and knowing where we were and what has happened and things to happen, knowing that the world has changed somewhat since Covid, and about

Nestor Aparicio 3:10
diet, about eating, sure about drinking

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Harold Xeconimos 3:14
a lot of things, and one of the things is how to survive,

Nestor Aparicio 3:19
different kind of business than what was traditionally a sub shop and pizza shop, right? And you’ve tried to really elevate the menu here, obviously you’re serving things a lot of sub shops don’t serve, but more what an Italian restaurant or a Greek restaurant would serve, like a Greek diner,

Harold Xeconimos 3:37
exactly.

Nestor Aparicio 3:37
But give me conceptually what you were trying to do, and what happened at low first a year, because low first great menu, but I looked at as a sports bra. I used to watch Oriole games.

Harold Xeconimos 3:47
We had the best thing was when it comes to sports, over 55 TVs up there. You had

Nestor Aparicio 3:52
bands in there, that’s a different business when you’re over two in the morning. Oh,

Harold Xeconimos 3:57
absolutely, especially get to be

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Nestor Aparicio 3:58
young like

Harold Xeconimos 3:59
us. But yeah, low first, we had a fire. Oh, we were shut down. The previous owner of Sorrento’s was a personal friend of mine for over 30 years, and his wife had reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, you know you got any employees looking for some work, I could use them. So I gently said, “Well, you know what? If you ever decide to sell Sorrento’s, I’m a perfect fit. And she said, “Well, I don’t know. Why did you

Nestor Aparicio 4:30
think that? Why did you think this was a desirable business?

Harold Xeconimos 4:34
Because of my relationship with her and her husband for so many years, and we were best buddies. We had hung out, we’ve gone to food shows together. I already had a good

Nestor Aparicio 4:45
patron, you knew with this business. I

Harold Xeconimos 4:47
was in food service for 35 years, and Mike was an actual customer of mine.

Nestor Aparicio 4:53
Okay,

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Harold Xeconimos 4:53
and that’s how our relationship began.

Nestor Aparicio 4:55
Okay, coming for a beer,

Harold Xeconimos 4:57
so I’m like, okay, you know, let’s. See what’s going on, so about a month went by, and she said, “Well, you know what? I thought about what you said, and I want to sell. I said, “Oh my goodness, awesome opportunity. And 2020 20, and here I am today, and we’ve taken on, you know, the fact that Sarantis has been here over 60 years, community driven, an icon to the area and to the community. It was, I could feel it in my soul that you’re

Nestor Aparicio 5:32
proud of your name, but yeah, I want

Harold Xeconimos 5:35
to be here, you know. I love what I do, I love the opportunity, and it’s so, so much different than bar business. They get to go home at a decent hour, and I’m not putting out fires all the time. I’d late night with people over drinking, or whatever. Sure, so I have a family restaurant here, and my goal is to connect with the with the neighborhood and do things work out at the CFG Arena. We’re up at the UMBC. We partner with both of them. We are looking to grow and to expand and also increase the center of plate items like the crab cake.

Nestor Aparicio 6:15
Oh, well, you know, you have a lot of pastas here. You’re famous for the cheese steak and the pizzas, but this expansion of a menu and conceptually have an executive chef at a, at a sub shop in Arbutus, that’s that’s booshy, that’s uptown over here.

Harold Xeconimos 6:33
I brought my chef with me from Loafers, who had been with me for over 15 years, and we started playing with certain ideas and certain concepts.

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Nestor Aparicio 6:42
Good plate of foods, good plate of food. Then

Harold Xeconimos 6:44
Henry came on board, and we started promoting and changing the brand a little bit, and helped promote the brand, and help expand the brand, and become better than what we were, but still hold on to what we was right, not losing that.

Nestor Aparicio 7:00
You won’t be able to people come in here for pizza and cheese steaks, yeah, French fries. We’re not

Harold Xeconimos 7:03
changing that

Nestor Aparicio 7:04
right,

Harold Xeconimos 7:04
but now we’ve been able to add other things to the menu that can attract other clientele outside of the neighborhood. Crap

Nestor Aparicio 7:12
cake,

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Harold Xeconimos 7:13
crab cake, which is now,

Nestor Aparicio 7:14
where’s your crab cake recipe come from? My eight is delicious, very country club, very Greek crab cake, very.. you know, it was a Baltimore crab cake.

Harold Xeconimos 7:23
I had my chef from Chef Jose, who was at Loafers, and he had a recipe that we used up there that we were doing very well with. And, of course, everybody has their own little thing with everybody loves their own crab. Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 7:39
usually they’re mothers.

Harold Xeconimos 7:40
And so we started putting it out there to the consumer and the customer, and it just took off. People just love it, and they were comparing us to some of the big boys in the area, telling us that it’s much better than what they can get. That I don’t want to mention a sub shop, yeah, and it’s our signature item for us now, and that helped lead us into all the.. and it’s been

Nestor Aparicio 8:04
six years, that’s all.

Harold Xeconimos 8:04
Been six years, seven

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Nestor Aparicio 8:05
years ago. Your buddy Mike did not serve a crab cake here,

Harold Xeconimos 8:08
not at all. Not

Nestor Aparicio 8:10
what was on the menu? What’s not? Is there anything not anymore? Everything you could always get stole here, you just added to it.

Harold Xeconimos 8:16
That’s correct. So we were trying to help improve the center plate items, instead of just being a basic sub shop and pizza, we also wanted to add more and become more noted for our platters and our seafood, and some of our center to plate items.

Nestor Aparicio 8:35
Chesapeake menu, you have a Chesapeake

Harold Xeconimos 8:37
menu, you know who in Maryland don’t want to eat a good crab cake. Nobody,

Nestor Aparicio 8:42
well, if he got a bad crab cake, yeah, I won’t come back. Yeah, but

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Harold Xeconimos 8:46
we can build a red business around a good crab cake.

Nestor Aparicio 8:49
Well, you’re it’s Maryland Crab Cake Tour. It’s

Harold Xeconimos 8:52
who don’t want to eat a good crab, and I don’t even

Nestor Aparicio 8:54
know you’re a Maryland lottery vendor too. They got Maryland lottery. Here’s John Martin ex Comminos, correct? That’s how we come. Minos is here. He is the proprietor of all things Sorrento of Arbutus. There’s a Sorrento West, which is also sub shop, that’s adding Catonsville. We’re in Arbutus. This is a sit down on the corner of Stevens and East Drive. Jim Schwartz was on me for years and years and years. And today is, I said, it’s a maiden voyage. I’ve never done my show on Arbutus, and Schwartz used to give me a hard time forever. It was the Dundalk, or I texted him this morning, and he’s like, ‘All my little league pizza I had here, and, but Arbutus is one of Spices from Dundalk. Why, unless I dated a girl here, why would I come here,

Harold Xeconimos 9:39
exactly? We’re

Nestor Aparicio 9:41
Highlandtown guy, you know, yeah,

Harold Xeconimos 9:42
of course, but you know it’s a close-knit, very much

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Nestor Aparicio 9:46
so,

Harold Xeconimos 9:47
and there’s a lot to be had here, and a lot to be seen. I’ll

Nestor Aparicio 9:50
call it historic, doesn’t

Harold Xeconimos 9:51
give it the credit that it deserves. What do you

Nestor Aparicio 9:54
love about Arbutus? You own the people,

Harold Xeconimos 9:56
the people, okay, the people are amazing, and. Uh, they’re very loyal, and they’re very hospital, hospitality, what’s where hospital, hospital, and they’re original owners of the home, and so people have grown up in Sorrento’s, you know, they were kids, they trusted,

Harold Xeconimos 10:18
they were kids, and then they put, they brought their girlfriends here, then they met their first wife here, and you know, and the story just goes on. Teacher John’s is

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Nestor Aparicio 10:27
my sponsor, has been my sponsor for 15 jobs, awesome. So, you know, if they’re from Essex,

Harold Xeconimos 10:31
yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 10:32
I mean, I can’t begin to tell you, little league, I went there after playing at Stemmers Run, my parents, my uncle owned a business in Essex, and it’s where we got our pizza, 1975 so, so all these years later, and when you go back, the one thing you know tastes the same, smells the same, you know,

Harold Xeconimos 10:48
1966 and we’re still kicking,

Nestor Aparicio 10:51
yeah, beautiful thing. So,

Harold Xeconimos 10:52
there’s a lot to be said for that.

Nestor Aparicio 10:54
Well, I mean, second, third generation, and in some families it gets handed down, right? Like, my son doesn’t want my business, you know what I mean. Yeah, he doesn’t want to own a radio station to do what I do, but I do think when that moment happens where your buddy needs to sell, yeah, he either shuts it down, sells it, somebody doesn’t understand it, or somebody is not from the community, or somebody’s looking for an investment, or just looking for the land to strip it out, yeah. But what I mean, I’m going to be at the Fishmonger’s Daughter tomorrow night with my friends from Fadley’s. They’re having their grand opening in the heart of Catonsville. They have blood guts history, yes, in that wallpaper building there, and they’re bringing it back. I just, I love what’s happening on the west side of the county, and I just, I just had a fellow Nimrod Westcott running for county council, we have a big election this week, but it takes an influx of people like you, like Pete Triantifalose, you know, who just opened the second spot, another good Greek guy, because it’s put, but it’s these local people that make it happen, it’s not Walmart that makes it happen, you know that,

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Harold Xeconimos 11:58
yeah, Ben, we’re here to continue that legacy, which is a dying thing in today’s.. I hope it’s

Nestor Aparicio 12:04
not dying.

Harold Xeconimos 12:05
Well, I’m, you know, independent. Let’s not

Nestor Aparicio 12:07
let it die. Yeah,

Harold Xeconimos 12:08
that’s right. Because it’s better. That’s right.

Nestor Aparicio 12:10
It’s better than Walmart.

Harold Xeconimos 12:11
That’s what I’m doing. It

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Nestor Aparicio 12:12
just is.

Harold Xeconimos 12:12
That’s what I’m doing. All right, I’m gonna call you to

Nestor Aparicio 12:15
Pizza John’s in West Baltimore, because it pretty much is. I think it is. It is, anyway. I feel like I feel like I’m at home. Yeah, Schwartz must have called his friends around here and said, “Okay, Harold’s here, we’re Sorrento of our business. So, I looked at your menu, and everything on your menu is a primavera this, and a broccoli that, and a pasta this, and a sauce that. I saw something that I’d never seen before, and maybe I’ve seen it, but I never thought about ordering, and Henry and I talked about it, shrimp cheesesteak, the hell is that, Harold, a shrimp

Harold Xeconimos 12:48
cheesesteak, so we take our steak and we add shrimp, pretty simple, I never

Nestor Aparicio 12:56
heard of this,

Harold Xeconimos 12:57
and it’s, I’m a little afraid, nice, but I like

Nestor Aparicio 13:00
cheese steak, and I like shrimp. I like your rolls, look phenomenal, awesome. I saw somebody ordering your cheese steak, and I wanted it because the roll looks over the rolls. I haven’t had it yet. I’m gonna get it. I’m leaving. Your Bill Cole’s coming in from Cole Roofing, and he’s an Arbutus company. Yeah, and I told him I was doing a show here, yeah, couldn’t do it last week, right? And I moved it to this week. I can only do it at the end of the day, but I want to come. He’s eating here once a week. Oh, so he’s, he’s your customer. I love him. So he’s going to be coming in a couple minutes ago. Great. So I’m going to talk to him and see what, because he’s a more adventurous eater than me. I’ll tell you something that’s going to make you sick to your stomach, but you got four weeks ago, because I’m gonna give him much shit when he gets here, but because I haven’t done this on the air with him yet, he invited me to Vegas to this big Maryland party, and I went out there, and they had a dinner downtown. Ryan Ripken was with our little mafia. Oh, so you know, I get to the party late, because I was working on, like, Ryan Ripken and Bill Cole. I’d work for a living, and I get to the party, and they had all this food out at this bougie gastro pub, kind of like loafers, if it went all upscale, right? And they had all these appetizer, but it’s Vegas, so it’s a little freaky deaky. They had burnt and hot dogs on the menu, just take a moment with that burnt and look at the look on his face. The look was on my face when Ryan Ripken said, ‘Hey, dude, you want some burnt end hot dogs?

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Harold Xeconimos 14:33
Anything’s got burnt on it. Well, I mean, B U

Nestor Aparicio 14:36
R N T, burnt. It was like burnt, and I’m thinking pit beef, pit beef would be burnt ends, right? Hey, dude, defend yourself, burnt end hot dogs, defend yourself, guilty.

Harold Xeconimos 14:49
Uh, huh,

Nestor Aparicio 14:50
this guy, uh, huh, mr. Arbutus, uh

Harold Xeconimos 14:52
huh. Have you

Nestor Aparicio 14:53
ever had a shrimp cheesesteak? We’re gonna have one tonight. Bill Cole’s absolute roofing, I. What else is on your menu that you love? Like, if I, we become friends here in the next five times I come in, you become a sponsor of mine, we do business, and you’re gonna be like, ‘Hey, Nestor, man, you sponsor me. I want you to promote the blankety blank. What are the five best things? Well, you know,

Harold Xeconimos 15:15
our name was built on our pizza, of course. I already

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Nestor Aparicio 15:17
had a slice of that. Yeah,

Harold Xeconimos 15:19
and obviously our steak is a big draw. You have a

Nestor Aparicio 15:24
Cooper cheese steak, like they make it out of Philly with the Cooper.

Harold Xeconimos 15:28
That’s correct.

Nestor Aparicio 15:29
I’m gonna get that.

Harold Xeconimos 15:30
Yeah, that’s nice. Nice item. And then, of course, the crab cakes are always delicious. I’m

Nestor Aparicio 15:36
taking that convenient,

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Harold Xeconimos 15:36
and I order one.

Nestor Aparicio 15:37
They bring me two. It’s a Greek joint. Yeah,

Harold Xeconimos 15:39
you know, our salads are off the hook. Our salmon is excellent. Any of our chicken dishes are excellent. It’s hard to go wrong. We, we don’t sacrifice price for quality, and we could give you a good value for your money.

Nestor Aparicio 15:58
Scratch kitchen,

Harold Xeconimos 15:59
yep, everything’s made us anything that we can make fresh, we will do that. That’s where our heart is, and that’s where our soul is, and that’s how we feel we should treat our customers with good, solid quality, consistent food with a nice portion for for a good value that will help them enjoy their, their, their visit with us and help come back and see us again time and time after. So, when you come in our doors, we’re going to earn your business, either through the service or through the quality of the food. We’re going to make it happen.

Nestor Aparicio 16:35
Well, Cole came over last month to the bougie fish monger’s daughter. He looked at all, but when I said to him, “Hey, dude, I’m doing a show in Arbutus, yeah, first time in my career, 34 and a half years. Yeah, he’s like, “Sure, nos, man, I eat there once a week, I’ll meet you there.

Harold Xeconimos 16:52
He’s a regular, so I have

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Nestor Aparicio 16:53
expanded my show today, sun is setting here in West Baltimore, because the working man on the on all the roofs, the corporate roofs of ball setting up all the solar activators. By the way, I did a whole show on the man with the golden gun this week, which was the solar activator thing in 1973 Solex Agitator, I think, is what it was called, the Bond movie. So I’ve had a weird week because the Orioles are on the West Coast, they’re losing, and I’m pissed off about it, and there’s no football to talk about, so I’m eating crab cakes in new places. Sorrento of our views, delicious crab cake here. Harold’s been great to me, Henry’s been great to me, Joe behind the bar. Everybody here has been nice to me today. I’ve had fans recognizing me. I had a young lady over here take a picture with me for her dad, so he had a $5 winner from the Westco’s campaign. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland Lottery. Our friends at GBMC, as well as Farnon and Dermer, they’re the Comfort guys, they are HVAC and Plumbing, and our friends here at Sorrento, our new friends at Sorrento of Arbutus. And you need to ship a couple of crab cakes to Schwartz and let him know he’s welcome back here, and he’s outgrown Arbutus with his Super Bowl trophy.

Harold Xeconimos 18:02
Nope, we’ll send it to him.

Nestor Aparicio 18:03
Tell him he can get a crab cake. Yeah, we’re gonna make it happen. The homeland of Super Bowl champion Jim Schwartz, they’re letting a Dundalk guy squat here in Arbutus on the West Side. My thanks to Harold and Henry back for more. Bill Cole’s gonna join us, gonna talk about roofs, we’re gonna talk about summer, and we’re gonna talk about fun, and we’re gonna talk about crab cakes, and I am getting, for the first time in my life, a shrimp cheesesteak. What would Charlie Edmond say? I don’t know, he would have a conniption right now. Back from all right after this.