Tornado shook his faith, but Vanelli's owner vows to rebuild

Amid the demolition and new construction humming along tornado-ravaged North Gloster Street stands the mangled shell of Vanelli's, the once-popular Tupelo restaurant eerily unchanged since the afternoon of April 28.

At roughly 2:45 p.m. that day, a multiple-vortex twister chewed through the northeast Mississippi city, destroying numerous homes and businesses in its path. Among those hardest hit was the family-owned Greek and Italian eatery in operation since 1975.

Its owner, who goes by vOz, was at the restaurant with several employees when the EF3 tornado touched down.

"We squeezed into the cooler, and I turned around to close the door behind us," he said. "But the wind was pulling the door open, and I had to pull as hard as I could to slam it shut. Then it came."

The twister pried open the roof, shredded insulation, ripped out electrical wires, toppled the dining room wall, tossed kitchen appliances and heavy booths. It also tripped the building's emergency sprinkler system, drenching priceless art by Picasso, John Lennon and others hanging throughout the eatery.

It took less than 10 seconds to destroy nearly four decades of memories.

But while nearby buildings similarly damaged by now have been demolished or renovated — or are in various stages thereof — Vanelli's sits undisturbed, as though time stopped when the tornado hit.

"People kept asking me, 'What are you going to do?' " vOz said. "They wanted me to say I would rebuild, and that's what I wanted to say, but for a time I honestly didn't know."

Watching Mother Nature so effortlessly crumble a family's brick-and-mortar legacy can shake a man's faith. vOz returned home that evening to a house quieted by the recent death of his wife, Linda, and sat numbly in his bedroom.

He thought about his father, Demetrios Kapenekas, who fled Nazi-occupied Greece during World War II and eventually immigrated to the United States to start a restaurant. He thought about his mother, Anna Sylvia, whose Greek cooking inspired many of the meals on the Vanelli's menu.

And he thought of his extended family in Greece, including two nieces he had hoped would one day come to America, take over the restaurant and carry on its traditions. Now in his 60s and with no children of his own, vOz said such matters occupy his mind.

Sleep came. Then morning. When he arose, vOz opened his door and looked outside. A tiny sparrow stood on the stoop. Its presence filled vOz with hope and resolve. He decided to rebuild.

But the process has proved difficult, most notably his dealings with insurers who challenge his claims to the money his policy allows.

Although he stops short of blaming any one person or company, vOz criticized the system in general. It's unfair, he said, and it punishes those in a disaster who accept less than they're due just to get a roof over their heads.

He also has retooled the restaurant's website as a post-tornado hub of information on the next step. Online surveys ask visitors where Vanelli's should rebuild and what kind of menu items and dining options they want to see, as well as solicit applications for future job openings.

And it includes an open letter to the community thanking numerous individuals and businesses for their help in the aftermath of the storm.

"I am humbled by the outpouring of support from this community," vOz said recently.

"It has sustained me, truly sustained me, in these weeks and months."

Sitting on the front porch of his three-story brick home on a sprawling estate just outside Tupelo, vOz sighs deeply. It's clear he misses the restaurant and the role he assumed as its gracious and gregarious host.

He delighted many a patron with his impromptu concertina performances, sashaying through the restaurant while pumping out merry tunes on the hand-held device. Others were treated to personal tours of his vast art collection or a pop into his office to see his latest creative project — a poem or film script or song.

"I miss those interactions," vOz said. "I wander around the grocery store now talking to anyone who will look my way."

vOz joined Vanelli's in 1978, three years after his father opened it in its original location on South Gloster Street near North Mississippi Medical Center. Back then, vOz went by Bill Kapenekas and was a young man of 25.

As he matured and grew, so did his role in the restaurant, which moved to its existing location in 1991. vOz eventually took over management from his father, who died in 2005, and expanded the building to include an outdoor dining room.

By the time the storm hit, Vanelli's had swelled to roughly 10,000 square feet of space and a staff of some 50 employees doing a brisk lunch and dinner business seven days a week — not to mention live music and comedy most weekends.

vOz doesn't know what features Vanelli's next incarnation will include, but he promises it will retain its original spirit and its signature dishes.

The tornado hasn't destroyed that, he said; it lives on in those who love Vanelli's.

Contact Emily Le Coz at elecoz@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7249. Follow @emily_lecoz on Twitter.

About the series

This is the last in a series of stories that looks at how some of the April 28 tornado survivors are coping three months later.

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