Don’t bring up the Battle of Thermopylae but Al Saadati, who has Persian heritage owns the restaurant that was voted to have the Best Greek food in the Standard-Examiner’s annual Reader’s Choice awards.

Besides the food at his University Broiler & Grill, Saadati’s success comes from following a tried-and-true model of Greek diners everywhere: hard work – his days are 12-to-14 hours, with only Sundays off.

It helps that Weber State University is there, and Greek food favored fare for college students who want something good and fast and cheap, like his lamb or chicken gyro sandwiches.

He said he serves as many as 500 of his signature souvlakis daily between dining-in, takeout, or catered events, the dish marinated, grilled, and served on a bed of lemon rice and skinless lemon-spiced, flame-broiled chicken.

“Our food is unique and it’s healthy,” he said. “We make everything from scratch every day. We don’t use any frozen stuff, or animal fats or coconut oil,” he said.

He’s a graduate of the university, with a degree in electronic engineering before opening a small restaurant because he really wanted to be his own boss.