LA GRANDE — Fans of Yia Yia Nikki’s soon will have a second location — with an expanded menu — to enjoy a taste of Mediterranean and Greek food.

The owners of the the popular establishment at 203 N. Willow St. in La Grande are in the final stages of renovating a second home at the corner of Second Street and Adams Avenue. Monir Desouky, who owns the restaurant along with his wife, Tina, said the new place will be called 2nd Street Yia Yia Nikki’s.

The new location will provide the owners with more space, and part of the reason for opening another shop is that doing so will enable them to serve their soups — which currently are just seasonal — year-round.

“People love our soup,” Monir Desouky said. “Space is limited. Now we have leg room to be able to do it all year.”

Soup all year long isn’t the only change coming to the menu. Desouky said everything currently on the menu at the Willow Street shop — such as gyros, Mediterranean pitas, falafel, gyro salad and chicken shawarma salad — will be at 2nd Street Yia Yia Nikki’s.

The new location will be adding what Desouky called exotic sandwiches, such as smoked turkey with cranberry, black forest ham with coleslaw, roast beef with horseradish, and an omelette sandwich, among others.

The interior, which still is being finished, will have a bar-style set-up on the north end along an open kitchen where patrons can converse with the staff as they prepare meals and a similar set-up along the south wall and on the east end, also by the kitchen.

Having the open kitchen in view of patrons, Desouky said, will provide a way for customers to see their food as it’s made, but there is more to it than the visual element.

“It gives you a comfort zone as a customer,” he said. “(There’s) nothing to hide. It makes (you) comfortable as a guest and (staff) can engage with you.”

There also will be grab-and-go options in a deli case that will include domas and cabbage rolls, tzatziki yogurt, hummus and specialty breads — among them will be havarti and spinach cheese bread and focaccia bread.

Guests also will have an outdoor patio option. All seating, though, will not be available until coronavirus-imposed restrictions are lifted. The restaurant for now will operate via takeout and delivery.

Desouky is looking at adding a drive-thru window down the road, a nod to what he said helped keep the Willow Street shop afloat during the early stages of the pandemic.

The new 2nd Street Yia Yia Nikki’s will have a soft opening at 9 a.m. July 6. It will be open Monday through Saturday — the same as the other location. The hours of operation are still being finalized.

Desouky also said there will be a to-be-determined grand opening celebration that will feature $3 gyros.

“We’re excited,” he said. “It will be fun.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to fix a misspelled name.