The red-wine cellar where John Harbaugh was wined and dined Wednesday night with off-the-menu items by co-owner Chris Mara, general manager Joe Schoen and their confidantes is steeped in Giants tradition.
Decades earlier — long before Elia took over the location and refurbished the downstairs space — it was the dungeon at Park & Orchard where Bill Parcells used to host pre-draft meetings for the Giants. Opened in 2017, Elia Mediterranean has become the Giants’ go-to spot for high-profile courtships, but the one that led to Harbaugh agreeing to become head coach of the Giants was different before the door opened at 5 p.m.
“When Joe walked in, you knew the deal was going to go down,” Elia owner Tim Salouros told The Post. “It was the first time that they called me to tell me the timing. They told me, ‘Coach had to be on a flight at 7:30.’ Before Coach left he said, ‘I loved it. I’ll be back.’ ”
Seated at a custom-designed wooden table for up to 18 guests, Harbaugh was presented with three exclusive options — one steak, one fish and one chicken — prepared just for the occasion.
John Harbaugh smiles beside Joe Schoen at Elia Mediterranean Restaurant. Elia Mediterranean Restaurant/Instagram
“Coach veered to Chris Mara to order first and Chris goes, ‘You are the honorary guy here. You order first,’ ” Salouros said. “We had pan-roasted Alaskan halibut filet over spinach, asparagus, mushrooms, crab meat and yellow romesco sauce. Once he ordered that, Chris said, ‘I’ll have what Coach is having.’
“And they had all the traditional apps — the grilled octopus, the eggplant and zucchini chips, the Horiatiki salad, the tuna tartare, the Saganaki and the fried calamari that we are known for.”
Throw a couple of 16-ounce ribeye steaks onto the bill for Schoen and special assistant to the general manager (and former Giants great) Jessie Armstead.
The table in the wine cellar where the Giants wined and dined John Harbaugh inside Elia Mediterranean Restaurant, as seen on Jan. 15, 2026. Bill Kostroun/New York Post
Another view of the table in the wine cellar where the Giants wined and dined John Harbaugh inside Elia Mediterranean Restaurant, as seen on Jan. 15, 2026. Bill Kostroun/New York Post
To wash it all down? Despite being surrounded by about 2,500 bottles of red wine lining the wall and higher-end options behind a divider, the Giants’ brass doesn’t usually drink at these interviews.
So, Salouros sensed that something was up when the waiter came upstairs with a special request to open a rare bottle of Silver Oak — perhaps the first private indication that Harbaugh was ready to cancel his scheduled interviews with the Titans and Falcons.
“He said, ‘The coach wants a glass of wine to celebrate,’ ” Salouros said. “I joked with them, ‘As a fan, I want to know — and I’m sure everybody in this room wants to know — are you ready to sign?’ I winked at him and he looked at me. I told him and Mr. Mara, ‘If you are not ready, we can go in the back and discuss it. Until you make the right decision, you can’t leave.’ They all laughed about it, so you knew it was happening.”
A view of Elia Mediterranean Restaurant on Jan. 15, 2026. Bill Kostroun/New York Post
Mara, Schoen and Harbaugh were joined by Giants director of player of player personnel Tim McDonnell, assistant general manager Brandon Brown and Armstead, Salouros said. One night earlier, the Giants interviewed former Cowboys and Packers head coach Mike McCarthy in the same setting.
Elia was a favorite spot for former Giants assistants Wink Martindale — the kind of regular who drew a reaction like Norm in “Cheers” — and Jerome Henderson, and hosted the closing dinners that led to agreements with Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge, Brian Daboll and Schoen, Salouros said.
Martindale, who previously worked under Harbaugh with the Ravens, even gave his former boss the heads-up to call Elia’s owner “Tim.”
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“He said, ‘We have a mutual friend,’ ” Salouros said.
Elia’s clean white interior pops and draws attention away from the bar and its flat-screen televisions to the back-center fish box display where customers can walk up and pick their fish from ice.
“We’ve dealt with some other owners here when they come and play here, but the Maras, they run the Giants like we run our mom-and-pop restaurant,” Salouros said. “We cater to what they want. But when they are interviewing people, it’s always in the Parcells Era [room] downstairs. I’ve seen the pictures when Parcells is so young from the previous owners.”
It was a small lunch crowd Thursday, but Salouros’ phone was ringing off the hook to the point he had to cancel plans for his 50th birthday in New York City to come back and tend his place in Giants’ lore. It will only grow if Harbaugh — the 14th-winningest coach in NFL history — restores the downtrodden Giants to the winning ways of the Parcells days.
“I’m happy for them because I knew the fans wanted this and I knew that they had to come out with Harbaugh,” Salouros said. “We wanted to impress him.”
As they say in Greece, “téleios.”
Done deal.
Dining and Cooking