Conrad’s to become Oakwood Café

Don’t worry about losing the warm familiar feeling of Conrad’s Family Restaurant — or many of its beloved menu items — in the coming month as the Oakwood Avenue at Foothill Boulevard landmark changes owners and gains a new moniker and signage.

The restaurant — with a new location-descriptive name of the Oakwood Café — is being purchased from longtime owner Nick Bissias, by his son, Peter, who has been an employee at the business for much of adult his life.

“Peter has worked here since he was a teenager. He knows what he is doing and will do a great job here,” said Ruth De Simone, who has managed the La Cañada Conrad’s for the past 30 years. De Simone retired in February 2007, but has worked at the restaurant on a part-time basis since then. She plans to fully retire as the younger Bissious takes the reins of the family business.

“It’s been a wonderful journey, this is a wonderful family to work for and our clientele is precious, but this is the right time for me to fully retire,” she said.

With the purchase, Peter Bissias will now join his sisters, Elaine and Diane, as business owners in the Plaza de La Cañada/Vons shopping area.

For the past 15 years, Elaine and Diane Bissias have owned Zeli’s Coffee Bar in that complex. They also own a second Zeli’s Coffee Bar in Pasadena.

All three siblings credit their parents with helping them learn to work in the restaurant and inspiring them in the direction of entrepreneurship.

“My mother is just as important in the success of Conrad’s as my dad,” Peter Bissias said, of mom Frances Bissias, who has long been active in various local school, church and community organizations, and was named Mother of the Year in 2007 by the Philoptohos Society of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles.

The Bissias children, now adults, are all La Cañada High School graduates and lived here much of their lives. Peter Bissias lives in La Cañada with his wife, Michele and their young daughter, Taia.

Nick and Frances Bissias purchased Conrad’s Family Restaurant in May 1970 from La Cañadan Conrad Burleson, for whom the restaurant was named. Burleson started the first Conrad’s Family Restaurant in the Silverlake area, Peter Bissias said.

Nick Bissias currently owns a Conrad’s Family Restaurant in Pasadena, which the younger Bissias managed for many years, as well as a Conrad’s in Glendale and a Cable’s Restaurant in Woodland Park. He currently has no plans to sell those businesses, Peter Bissias added.

Upon taking ownership of the La Cañada restaurant, Bissias plans to change the name to the Oakwood Café because, he said, “it’s simple and identifies the location. I want this to remain a community restaurant, be identified as part of this city, and be a place the residents can identify with and be proud of,” he added.

Although there will be some modifications to the menu, the old favorites will still be offered, but possibly with different names. Prices also will remain low or possibly be reduced, in light of economic times, Bissias said, adding, “We have always had good products and good service. All of that will remain.”