His Father Left a Village in Arcadia, Greece, Fed Saskatchewan for Forty Years, and Jamie Poured Everything He Learned from Him into Cameo Pizza. Jamie Is Still There, Still Cooking.
Jamie Yannoulis grew up in his father's restaurants — Houston Pizza in Yorkton, the Macedonian in Canora — watching Ross Yannoulis, who had come from a village in Arcadia, Greece in 1971, build a life around cooking for Saskatchewan communities. When it was Jamie's turn, he opened his own place. That place is Cameo Pizza. He runs it with his partner Char Korchinski, who met Jamie when she was working for his dad. Jamie is still there, still cooking.
August 11, 2026 · By Justin Plosz · Yorkton, Saskatchewan · Business · 7 min read read
What Jamie Learned Before He Opened His Own Place
The village of Eleohori sits in Arcadia — the mountainous inland region of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, known for its olive groves and for a tradition of emigration that sent young men across the world through the mid-twentieth century. Ross Yannoulis was born there on June 20, 1954. He was seventeen when he left.
He arrived in Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1971. He became a Canadian citizen on August 30, 1976. He met Irene Tanchuk while living in Regina, married her on May 18, 1975, and together they had four children: Kalliopi, Steven, Michael, and Jamie.
Ross had a passion for cooking that was not incidental to his life — it was the organizing force of it. He owned and operated restaurants throughout his years in Saskatchewan, including Houston Pizza in Yorkton and the Macedonian in Canora. He moved the family to Yorkton in July 1988, and it was there that Jamie grew up watching his father cook. The lessons were not taught formally. They were absorbed in the kitchen, over years, in the particular way that children of restaurant families come to understand food not as a product but as a practice — something you do for people, consistently, with care, day after day.
Houston Pizza, the Macedonian, and the Education Jamie Carried Out the Door
Before Cameo Pizza, there was Houston Pizza in Yorkton — a restaurant that Ross operated and that became one of the community's established eating institutions. And there was the Macedonian in Canora, Saskatchewan — another restaurant Ross ran, another community fed, another kitchen where Jamie learned what his father knew.
This is not a story of one restaurant or one technique. It is the story of a son watching a father who had brought something from Arcadia, Greece and built it into a life across Saskatchewan — a man who understood that feeding people in a small city is not a minor act. It is how a community sustains itself. It is how a newcomer becomes a neighbour and eventually a fixture.
Jamie paid attention. He watched how his father ran the kitchen, how he treated the regulars, how the work was actually done day after day in the places most customers never see. He learned how to cook Greek food and Saskatchewan food and the version of pizza that a city like Yorkton actually wants. And when he was ready, he took everything he had absorbed across those years and put it into something of his own.
He opened Cameo Pizza.
How Jamie and Char Found Each Other
Char Korchinski was working at the Macedonian in Canora when she and Jamie met. She had come to the restaurant as staff; the owner was Jamie's father. The connection they made there was the beginning of a partnership that would eventually become the foundation of their own restaurant.
That detail matters because it says something about what those restaurants meant — not just to the customers who ate there, but to the people who worked in them, who built relationships that outlasted any particular location or menu. Jamie and Char did not meet at a job fair or through an algorithm. They met because Ross Yannoulis was running a restaurant in Canora, and good people worked there, and two of those people found each other.
Now they run Cameo Pizza together. Jamie is in the kitchen doing what his father taught him. Char is part of every decision. It is their restaurant — opened by them, operated by them, built on the foundation Ross spent a lifetime constructing. The family has been cooking for Yorkton and the surrounding communities for long enough that the regulars at Cameo Pizza may not know the full story. They just know the food is good and the people behind it have been there a long time.
Cameo Pizza: Jamie's Restaurant
Cameo Pizza is at 10 1 Ave N in Yorkton, Saskatchewan — a central, accessible location that reflects the kind of restaurant it is: not destination dining, not a concept, but a neighbourhood institution open from 11 a.m. every day, offering the food that Jamie spent years learning how to make.
The menu carries the influence of his father's cooking: pizza, Greek salads, daily specials, Greek-inspired dishes alongside the kind of Saskatchewan comfort food that a city like Yorkton expects from a restaurant that has been around long enough to be trusted. Jamie cooks it the way he was taught. The specials reflect what is fresh and what the regulars know to ask for.
Ross Yannoulis passed away on August 12, 2020, surrounded by his family. He was sixty-six years old. He was remembered at St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Church in Regina — the community that had welcomed him almost fifty years earlier when he arrived from Greece with a passion for cooking, a larger-than-life personality, and the ability to make any room feel more alive.
Cameo Pizza is Jamie's restaurant. He opened it. He runs it. He and Char are the reason it is still open and still worth the trip. The 4.6-star Google rating and 136 reviews reflect what they have built.
Dine-In, Takeout, and Why Regulars Keep Coming Back
There is a particular kind of Saskatchewan restaurant that cannot be measured in food media coverage or Instagram posts because it exists in a different economy entirely — measured in how many times the same family has come back, in how many years a community has depended on it, in the regulars who have been showing up since before anyone thought to leave a Google review.
Cameo Pizza is that kind of restaurant. Jamie built it on what Ross taught him, which was itself built on what a village in Arcadia instilled in Ross before he was old enough to leave. The food connects those layers in a way that a customer ordering pizza on a Tuesday does not need to know about in order to taste it.
Dine-in and takeout are both available. The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. and is located at 10 1 Ave N, Yorkton, SK S3N 0K2. If you are a first-time visitor, order the pizza and add a Greek salad. If you become a regular, you will figure out the rest. The people who have been coming for years already know.
Key takeaways
- Cameo Pizza in Yorkton is Jamie Yannoulis's restaurant — opened and operated by Jamie and his partner Char Korchinski. Jamie built it on everything he learned working alongside his father Ross Yannoulis in the family's Saskatchewan restaurants.
- Ross Yannoulis immigrated from Eleohori, Arcadia, Greece to Saskatchewan in 1971 and spent over four decades running restaurants — including Houston Pizza in Yorkton and the Macedonian in Canora — before passing away in August 2020. He was Jamie's teacher, not Cameo's founder.
- Jamie and Char met when Char was working for Ross at the Macedonian in Canora — a connection that started in a family restaurant and grew into the partnership that now owns and runs Cameo Pizza.
- The restaurant is at 10 1 Ave N, Yorkton, SK S3N 0K2, opens at 11 a.m., offers dine-in and takeout, and holds a 4.6-star Google rating based on 136 reviews.
- The menu reflects Jamie's Greek heritage and Saskatchewan restaurant upbringing — pizza, Greek salads, daily specials, and Greek-inspired dishes cooked the way his father's kitchens taught him.
- Cameo Pizza is a son's restaurant: built from a father's knowledge, opened under Jamie's own name, and kept alive through the daily work of two people who chose to make cooking for Yorkton their life.
Frequently asked questions
- Where is Cameo Pizza located in Yorkton?
- Cameo Pizza is at 10 1 Ave N, Yorkton, SK S3N 0K2. The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. and offers dine-in and takeout. It is centrally located in Yorkton.
- Who owns Cameo Pizza in Yorkton?
- Cameo Pizza is owned and operated by Jamie Yannoulis and his partner Char Korchinski. Jamie opened Cameo Pizza as his own restaurant, drawing on everything he learned working alongside his father Ross Yannoulis — who came to Saskatchewan from Eleohori, Arcadia, Greece in 1971 and spent decades running Houston Pizza in Yorkton and the Macedonian in Canora before passing away in August 2020.
- Did Jamie's father open Cameo Pizza?
- No — Cameo Pizza is Jamie Yannoulis's restaurant, opened and run by Jamie and his partner Char Korchinski. Jamie's father Ross Yannoulis operated other Saskatchewan restaurants — Houston Pizza in Yorkton and the Macedonian in Canora — and Jamie grew up working alongside him. When Jamie opened his own place, he put everything his father had taught him into Cameo Pizza.
- How did Jamie Yannoulis meet his partner Char?
- Char Korchinski met Jamie Yannoulis while working at the Macedonian restaurant in Canora, Saskatchewan — a restaurant operated by Jamie's father Ross. What started as a working relationship became a lasting personal partnership. Jamie and Char now own and run Cameo Pizza together in Yorkton.
- What kind of food does Cameo Pizza serve?
- Cameo Pizza serves pizza, Greek salads, baby back ribs, and Greek-inspired dishes alongside daily specials — reflecting Jamie's Greek heritage and the cooking traditions he absorbed working in his father's Saskatchewan restaurants. The menu combines Canadian comfort food staples with the Greek culinary influences that Ross Yannoulis brought from Arcadia. Vegetarian options are available and the restaurant is family-friendly.
- How is Cameo Pizza rated?
- Cameo Pizza holds a 4.6-star Google rating based on 136 reviews — a reflection of the consistent quality and community loyalty that Jamie and Char have built. It is a well-established institution in Yorkton and the surrounding region.
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