Certain surnames are synonymous with Chicago dining: Bayless, Trotter, Nahabedian.
I’d add the Bannos family to that list.
For the last four decades, they’ve run two of my favorite and most successful restaurants in Chicago: Jimmy Bannos was the face behind the Creole restaurant Heaven on Seven, and his son Jimmy Bannos Jr. launched The Purple Pig on Michigan Avenue.
Since Heaven on Seven closed during the pandemic and the Bannos Jr. sold their stake of The Purple Pig, fans of their cooking have been wondering where their next venture would be.
Turns out, nowhere near downtown Chicago.
Their new restaurant is Kouklas Greek Eatery, located in the longtime Amici space in Niles at 7620 N. Milwaukee Ave. (and a few blocks away from my favorite Niles one-two punch: Super H-Mart and King Spa).
A big part of the reason of opening in Niles? It’s a 10-minute drive from where they grew up in Park Ridge. (I suspect, too, that the calculus and allure of opening a restaurant in downtown Chicago has changed since the pandemic.)
It’s a homecoming of another sort for the Bannos family. For the first time, they’re presenting a menu of their Greek heritage. Several dishes come straight from their family recipe book.
There’s plenty of solid Greek options around Chicagoland. Many of those restaurants have been reliably serving their classic dishes for decades. What I appreciate about Kouklas is that while the dishes are undeniably of Greek provenance, they’re prepared by chefs who’ve worked in modern kitchens.
Pay attention to their brick chicken, which is deboned (a labor-intensive process), its skin salted and dried out, then cooked over olive wood-fire, pan-seared and finished in the oven. It’s presented with beef-fat potatoes in that classic lemon-olive oil style.
What’s called Winter Village Salad on the menu is, in fact, Greek salad — and it looks nothing like the standard salad with wedged tomatoes and thick slivers of red onions. The red and green tomatoes are cooked confit-style in olive oil, and the result is something creamy and luscious that almost melts in your mouth. Notice the coins of crisp cucumbers, the julienned sweet peppers, and the hunk of feta cheese that sits atop. I could eat this salad every night and not tire of it.
Kouklas Greek Eatery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
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