Yesterday at 9:53 AM ·
Sorry to hear about Mr. P’s passing. He was such a nice man. Rick swore that it was the best Canadian Pizza around.
From Clay Spero
Hi Linda,
You might have not known Phil Pavlides—- but his businesses were a long standing staple in the community. He passed away quickly on Jan 17th, 2022 at home with family. His son Paul Pavlides and his daughter Georgia Pavlides helped out with various businesses ( El Passo Pizza, Phil’s Pizza, Minute Muffler, food(chip) truck and others). His business on Moore Street was part of the Carleton Place community for years.
I had the priviledge of being his business account manager from 1998-2011 and have always considered him to be one of my best friends. He was also a very good friend of Lorne LePage for the last 27 years.
I am sure you knew of Phil as well and would agree he was quite the loveable character. Thanks
Cindy HernsIt was!! I ate there all the time!! RIP
Clay SperoBest subs too !!!
Maryann VandusenAwe my condolences to the family. It was a good pizza spot
Emma-Alycia PaiementThat makes me sad. I used to love that place when I still lived in CP. I’m sad for his family. Sending my condolences to them all 
Paul Anthony PercyI remember working for him when I was 16! He taught me lots about cooking. When I delivered for him I used his brand new car. Great man would give you the shirt off his back. Going to miss him.
Penny CoatesPhil was a really wonderful guy and he made great food
CLAIRE and John Osborne
He was a great guy and I loved his pizza my son and I are very sorry for his family
COMMENT
- lindaseccaspinaRemembering Phil Pavlides Lorne Lepage 2 hr. ago
- My Friend Phil Pavlides
First of all, I want to introduce myself.
My name is Lorne Lepage, I am 57 years of age at the time of this article, January 21st, 2022.
I moved from the Cornwall area in 1995 after my grandfather (John A. Chenier), and care giver for my entire youth passed away on January 3.
I moved up to the Carleton Place area and started doing some contracting jobs as a self-employed contractor, with the assistance of a trade-off for advertising from Ken Ferguson. I worked for many in and around the Carleton Place area and when I was in Carleton Place. I would frequently stop by this chip wagon in town… the food seemed to be good and the prices were descent. I tried to stay busy and chat with people in and around town to get more business. I always liked stopping by the chip wagon because there were usually some people waiting for food and we would chat about renovations that they may be doing or have in the near future…. always trying to sell myself. As the summer passed I did visit the chip wagon quite frequent and also went back to his restaurant El Paso Pizza after my day and got to chat with Phil, my new best friend, and we started chatting about work, he explained that he started off being a pipe fitter over in Greece and did that for a few years before coming to Montreal, Canada. He found some work in the restaurant business to fill the holes in his work week and at nights to earn extra cash…He then moved to Smiths Falls and ran a business with a friend then went on to run his own shop. After many years he picked up out of Smiths Falls and bought the property in Carleton Place, and then the Pizzeria property on the corner of Moore Street and Munro St. Which was an old BP Gas station, he worked tirelessly to set it up so he could run his El Paso Pizza business and he did very well with the help of his wife and daughter for many years, his daughter Georgia was the real artist when it came to making the pizza’s, I remember her saying many time when she was there to help her dad on some large orders or in the very busy times, “Dad you just can’t throw the peperoni on like that, you have to place them on”. Phil just loved it when she came around cause then he could take a break and step away from the heat. Then his wife became very sick and passed away. I only met her once at the restaurant, she was a nice lady.
He met another lady and they were 2 of the funniest people to see to try and work together, Phil was Greek and Suzanne was French. He wasn’t allowed to cook too many times in her kitchen and she wasn’t allowed to be in his space at the restaurant…but they still did it anyways just to make sure the other knew of who’s kitchen they were in… it was very entertaining, cause after they cus each other, she would look at me when he wasn’t looking and wink and when she turned her back Phil would shake his fist at her back and smile… as if to say “One of these days Alice”. I watched and laughed at these actions for many years whether I was at the restaurant or at their home for a special occasion meal. They both loved having family and friends over and share some laughs and the odd shot of Oozo. Suzanne was a real hard worker and loved her gardens, she grew everything she could that was known to mankind… and she kept the lawn and all of her gardens just beautiful and very productive. You would always find many plants being started in the house along with most of the orange, lemon and any other type of tree that they would grow from a seed… she had a green thumb for sure, even though there was dirt under her nails…. sorry just a little humor.
Hard times hit after the fire in May of 2001 at the Pizza shop and it took Phil a while to figure out what he was going to do, so I stepped up and with my carpentry skills assisted in the reconstruction of the very badly smoked damaged and fire scorched building. I worked with the building inspector and also with an Engineer from Ottawa and I was able to get the building back to a safe and sound building with approvals from both parties so the new and improved building then became home to the Minute Muffler & Brake shop, this shop was managed by Phil’s son Paul, who has been in the auto parts as long as I have known them moving from dealership to auto parts place gaining experience in all the different fields. “Now it was time for him to take all those parts out of the box and assemble them” … kind of like assembling a plastic model car… oops sorry there I go again with my humor. The shop was doing well with having contracts with the local rail division doing the repairs on their fleet and also having the constant repairs from the locals for their everyday repairs on their vehicle, this also helped out the Pizza place because while the customers would be waiting, they could sonder over and have something to eat and have a chat with Phil in his reduced size for “Take out Only” Pizzeria, he loved the smaller shop cause it was less steps for him and with the declining times, he didn’t really need all the extra space for freezers and coolers. He was very content in there with his little 12” tv and his chair so he could take his little naps when the supper rush was over. As the times worsened it was hard to keep afloat as many other businesses in town faced the same issues and he was forced to close….
Phil was a born leader and a hard worker and decided to take the plunge and go and find work outside of his comfort zone, but still in the kitchen. He applied and started working for Tim Horton’s in the kitchen baking the donuts and everything that is required for the front counter sales. It was not long that he felt very comfortable there and really figured out the scheduling of how long everything took to cook. I heard each and every time that I stopped in to chat with him at home, he said he really enjoyed working there and is really glad that he chose to do that… he was able to be creative with the decorating (some he liked and some not so much, lol) of the donuts, muffins and cookies.
Phil had to take some time off for some health issues that he had but it was not long that he recovered and was back to work as even the doctors were surprised that he was able to go back so soon. He was suffering but he went back to work and did so, right up till he could not do it anymore, he was sent home because he was too weak to stand for hours, now I am very sorry but isn’t that the hardest thing that anyone has to face is to end your working career because of health, this gentleman deserves a medal for what he has accomplished and proved what one man can do if you only put your mind to it.
Phil was a great friend and a mentor to me for twenty-seven years, we have talked about work, women and wine… and that was just the start… we figured out how to build stuff with what we had available and with the limited funds as well…. talked to the proper authorities and made sure that we did our own leg work so that we could understand how it had to be done… even up till this winter Phil came to my place and we sat and chatted in my Clubhouse (an old milk house that I have a woodstove in it for heat and some comfy chairs) about things that we wanted to accomplish. He had a lot of dreams and loved to work, he did not expect to go this early cause he had plans and it wasn’t to retire… I will miss you “BOSSMAN”.
Sincerely: Lorne
lindaseccaspina 