Chicago Foodies

Kouzina – Food and Wine to Benefit the Hellenic Museum Sept. 21st-23rd

The Hellenic Museum will be the first Greek cultural museum in America and it will be in Chicago! This is a great chance to not only taste some unique and awesome food but to get to preview the museum as well.

Tonight begins "Kouzina", their tasting-fundraiser that spans 3 days. This evening features their Chef Tasting and includes award winning and celebrated local chefs:

Eating Greek in Evanston

I’d never think to eat Greek in Evanston but I’ve been to two places so far that have proven you don’t have to go to Greektown to get good Greek food.

The first place I was taken to was Cross-Rhodes Restaurant, which has been an Evanston staple for years.  Gyros are the thing to get here.  My dining partner (who had been coming here since she was a kid) impressed me with the vegetarian salad that she easily made non-vegetarian by topping it with Gyro meat.  The salad came piled high with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives, oil and vinegar dressing, Greek fries, Tsatziki sauce, Feta cheese and the added Gyros slices.  I had never seen Greek fries before on a menu so we decided to get an additional side order.  They were steak cut fries topped with a lemon-herb dressing that despite the dressing were very crispy.  A great twist on the common fry.

Zeus' Mighty Gyros

I was dropping some stuff off on Halsted and Jackson and got into a conversation about quick lunches and was immediately pointed to Zeus for a gyro to go. I had $4 on me and figured it may do the trick.

Zeus is a small spot on 806 W. Jackson. It sure enough covered me with a gyro for $3.50. I had just watched Alton Brown's gyros episode of Good Eats and had a taste for it. What your stomach doesn't tell you is that a gyro is a bad choice before going into an afternoon meeting. The thought occurred to me as I was snaking through traffic a tight grip on the pita overstuffed with spicy lamb and onions. I skipped the tzadtziki sauce fortunately and wasn't too worried about shirt stains.