Marissa Maharaj/The Falcon Stellios Makratzakis jokes with a customer Saturday afternoon. Known simply as Stell, he has provided SPU students with Greek-American food for over a year at his restaurant near campus.

Stellios J. Makratzakis tells the story of how a "whining, bitching" young boy made a huge fuss at the arm of his mother one day at his restaurant, Stell's Burgers and More, across from Tiffany Loop.

He brought a piece of chocolate up to the boy and his mother, but refused to hand it over until certain conditions were met. The boy could only earn the chocolate by behaving next time he and his mother came into the restaurant.

While his offer didn't fix the boy's attitude, he says, it will make the mother's visits to his restaurant far more pleasant.

"Being a father of three kids, I can read the face of a child...with an accuracy of 85 to 90 percent," Stell said.

How Stell quantifies his skill with people is a mystery, but spend a few minutes with the talkative hamburger shop owner and nuggets of parental wisdom will flow from his bearded face in a strong Greek accent with staccato syllables.

He admits that he likes acting as a sort of surrogate parent to college kids who come into his shop.

"It's interesting to find out different personalities and how they deal with things," he said. "I would appreciate it if somebody was kind to my kids."

While he may have some influence as a "dad" to his customers, everyone still calls him by his shortened first name, Stell. Even his own children.

"Everyone calls him Stell. I don't remember the last time I called him 'dad,'" Stell's 19-year-old son Demetre said.

Marissa Maharaj/The Falcon Stell’s Burgers and More is located across from Tiffany Loop on Third Avenue West.

It's not all parenting, though. He has more than enough lectures on hand about human nature and politics to keep SPU students and other customers multitasking while eating one of his pastrami and provolone-heavy Stell's Burgers. He also has a wealth of real world experience to back it up.

Air force pilot, journalist, political analyst, cook, restaurateur, husband and father. Makratzakis has had many job titles since his youth in Crete, Greece.

Born on May 18, 1952, Stell joined the military just out of high school in 1969.

Greece has compulsory military service for all males once they leave their secondary school, and based on exit testing and performance, will have them join the Hellenic Army, Navy or Air Force. Stell was placed in the more prestigious Hellenic Air Force and became a helicopter pilot.

While military service is required, higher education is free in Greece. Based, again, on placement exams, Journalism was suggested as a study track for young Stell. He quickly took up the subject and went to work as a student reporter while fulfilling his duty.

Based in Thessalonica, Greece for much of his 36-month service, he attended the university there and earned a degree in journalism while serving as editor-in-chief for the Air Force's newspaper, "The Blue Angel."

Stell is quick to point out the difference between American journalism in his new home versus the European style of journalism he left behind in Greece. The biggest dissimilarity: Capitalism and the desire to sell more papers in the American system.

"It's more commercialized," he said. "It has to do with revenue of the newspaper." He calls it "bottom-line oriented."

After his military service, Stell went to work as a reporter for the National Voice, a Greek newspaper. During this time he also offered political analysis in his job, which was "the Greek equivalent of CNN," Demetre said.

Despite his prestigious position and success, he chose to take advantage of a policy that allowed him access into the United States with the American woman who would soon become his wife.

Stell has been married to his wife Alexandria, or Sandy, for nearly 33 years.

A younger, less worldly Stellios J. Makratzakis first met Sandy and her family one evening in early May 1975. A day and a conversation over breakfast later, he took her to a festival in a small village where the two danced the night away. The following afternoon he took her swimming and snorkeling, then asked her to marry him.

Less than two weeks later on May 18, Stell's birthday, they had an official engagement party, and 13 days later they wed on June 1, 1975.

On August 17, the two arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport ready to catch a connecting flight to Seattle and start a new life together in America.

While Sandy was born close to Stell in Crete, she was raised in the United States and grew up in Ballard a "strong-minded" Greek American with far less ties to her homeland than her husband, she said.

Their faith, traditions and family were the glue that kept their marriage together after a "rocky" first year in the United States, Sandy said.

Originally limited in his English proficiency, Stell had to switch careers from his high-paying, respected position in journalism to being a dishwasher in a restaurant while Sandy worked in management at the Edgewater Inn downtown.

"I think it would have been easy for my husband to get on a plane back to Greece and give up," Sandy said. "But he didn't."

She said she admires his ability to remain optimistic and his flexibility in the situations he meets in life.

A lifelong lover of cooking as a hobby, Stell soon joined his brother-in-law in the restaurant business full time.

"He's changed so many hats in his life and I guess...you've got to do what you've got to do," Sandy said.

He has since worked at or co-owned three larger restaurants, including Latitude 47, a fine dining establishment on Lake Union which he worked at for nearly 25 years.

But what made him downsize his workload to his current position managing Stell's, a small burger joint?

To answer, he pulls down the front of his shirt to reveal a large scar on his chest. It's from his open heart surgery three years ago. He had a heart attack and it was agreed that he needed to take life a little bit easier.

Stell's Burgers and More is a much less stressful working situation for him. While lunch rushes can get a little hectic, he doesn't have to run around attending to the same issues as he would in a fine dining establishment, he has several employees covering many of the smaller-scale cooking duties and he even gets nights and Sundays off to spend time with his community and family.

Since arriving in the United States, in addition to Demetre, who is a student at Bellevue Community College, Stell and Sandy have had two older daughters: 31-year-old Athena, an attorney, and 29-year-old Costandina, a critical care nurse.

Both Stell and Sandy are quick to point out the effort they have put into giving their children the best education possible. All of their children have attended prestigious private high schools in the Seattle area and have gone on to achieve college educations.

"I want them to be lifelong learners," Sandy said. "We value education...we think it's the key."

Soon, Stell will also be able to add another job title to his already impressive resume: grandfather.

Athena is expecting her first child in June, he said, and if the children in his life continue to occupy him then Stell's Burgers and More may be the very last restaurant he runs until retirement.

For now, he'll still be coming in before 10 a.m. every morning to prep the ingredients to his burgers and more and provide Queen Anne with something a little different. It may not be as exciting as flying helicopters, but he likes it that way.

"I'm a low-key guy. I guess I fly under the radar."