Tommy K.’s American Dream
Restaurateur Thomas Katsiantonis Gets Back on Track After Tax Scandal — OPINION
America is a unique country, not only in its capacity to reward hard work, but in its ability to give people a second chance to redeem themselves. So many Americans’ ancestors came to the United States seeing just that, a second chance to begin again.
For Queen City restaurateur Thomas Katsiantonis, born in Manchester, New Hampshire and taken to his parents homeland Greece as a little boy only to return to his native country as he began his journey into adulthood, the September 21st Special Election for Ward 8 alderman is a chance for redemption.
Defining “Filotimo”
The former alderman from Manchester’s Ward Eight, known to one and all as Tommy K., is an American success story, the living embodiment of the American Dream. His new place, Filotimo Restaurant was just named the Best Greek Restaurant in WZID 95.7 FM’s 603 Awards.
Tommy K’s restaurant is located is inside the Filotimo Casino at 1279 South Willow Street, which is a charitable gaming establishment.
Life is a gamble. Win some, lose some.
Tommy K. rode a long winning street for many years before he crapped out in 2019, when he was indicted for tax evasion and pleaded guilty.
He seems to have his winning game back. The question is, will his current winning streak give him back one part of the American Dream, the aldermanic seat representing Ward 8, something he won in three consecutive elections. It was one of the fruits he harvested during a life of hard work and perseverance, given up in the wake of the tax evasion case.
There are over a hundred TOMMY KATSIANTONIS FOR ALDERMAN signs on Ward 8 lawns, more signs touting Tommy K. than for the other two candidates combined. As one alderman who served on the Board with Tommy K. told me, Katsiantonis was well known for constituent services. He was always there for the people of Ward 8 — and even for Barbara Shaw’s neighboring Ward 9.
(Tommy K. himself told me, several years ago before his troubles resulted in his resignation from the Board, that he never had as many calls as an alderman as when South Side residents rebelled against the new Walmart Supercenter and then against the new traffic patterns to make the Supercenter accessible.)
In many ways, an alderman doesn’t just represent their ward on the Board, but the city itself.
Tommy K. came of age as a man and a businessman in Manchester’s Ward 10 on the West Side. The West Side is more than just three wards on the other side of the Merrimack: It’s its own city inside a city, as is the South Side and the North End and Central City.
Covering the Board of Mayor and Alderman, as I have for eight years, one learns that the most important aspect of an alderman’s political life — the one on which they will be judged a good alderman or a bad alderman — isn’t their stand on the tax cap, or public safety employee contracts, or any one of the issues that sets social media and the press buzzing — it is constituent service.
Does the alderman respond to me when I call him or her about a missed garbage pickup, or a pothole on my street.
The website for Tommy K.’s new restaurant attempts to define “filotimo.”
The Greek word filotimo has no direct translation into English, but embodies the concept of philanthropy and hospitality that lies at the heart of Greek culture.
The spirit of filotimo in Tommy K. probably is a major reason for the 100+ TOMMY KATSIANTONIS FOR ALDERMAN signs in Ward 8. Tommy is known for his charitable work, particularly with children.
That covers philanthropy. And what of hospitality?
In a near-lifetime serving customers at his restaurants, Tommy K. listened to and delivered for his customers, or he would not have achieved success. Likewise, he listened to and served the people of his ward.
Tommy K. & The American Dream
Thomas Katsiantonis worked his way up from a teenage dishwasher at a defunct West Side eatery to the owner of two restaurants, Grand Slam Pizza and the pizza-pub Tommy K’s. He is living proof that hard work pays off in America.
Hard work is something the man known as “Tommy K.” has never shied away from.
While a student at Manchester’s Central High, Katsiantonis, had to walk to his job on the West Side and then back to his apartment on the other side of the Merrimack River. At his peak as a businessman, he employed sixty people in Ward Eight. In between his teenage aspirations and his mature success, Katsiantonis worked as a cook and a delivery man until, 23 years ago, he opened his original Grand Slam Pizza on South Main Street in Manchester’s Ward Ten.
Tommy K. first ran for state rep from Ward Ten in 2002, losing by just seven votes. A year later, he won a special election and has served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives for 16 years. He beat Steve Vaillancourt in November 2011 to become alderman from Ward Eight and won reelection in 2013, when he was unopposed.
In 2015, Tommy K. beat Ed Sapienza — who is opposing him this year, too — to win a third term on the Manchester Board of Mayor and Alderman, despite being a Democrat in an increasingly Republican ward.
Katsiantonis would be seeking his sixth term this year, and more than likely would still be representing Ward Eight not just on the BMA but in the State House, but for the events that transpired in 2019:
Tommy K. was charged with sales tax fraud and tax evasion, to which he pleaded guilty. He lost Grand Slam Pizza and his signature Tommy K.’s restaurant. His pursuit of The American Dream had become a nightmare.
But Tommy K. still works hard. And now, he is working hard as he seeks to atone for the breach of trust with his Ward 8 neighbors.
Born in America, Raised (Partly) in Greece
The enterprising Tommy K. was born in Manchester, in 1973, but when he was seven years old, his parents moved the family back to their native Greece.
He was educated in Greece through his first years of high school, before returning to Manchester on his own in 1992. While attending Central, the young Tommy K. went to work as what is known in restaurant slang as a “pearl diver” — a dishwasher — and through hard work, first began to live the American Dream.
Having become a success, Katsiantonis always was proud that he worked for people, both as a job-creator and as an alderman and state representative. On the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, he was the Chairman of the Committee on Public Safety, Health & Traffic, where he worked towards maintaining a strong cadre of firefighters and towards hiring more police officers.
It’s his belief that public safety is essential to the success and prosperity of the city he loves. It’s a city that’s given him much, and a place he dedicates himself to giving back to.
His personal code is one of filotimo. He wants to be a public servant once again.
