From hot dogs to souvlaki

A mischievous son’s culinary odyssey inspired the birth of the Greek Corner

Chicago Journal

When Christos and Voula Ladas decided to take a couple months off in the summer of 2003 and visit her family in Pylos, in the Peloponnese, the first-generation Greek immigrants temporarily closed their popular hot dog eatery at the corner of Damen and Augusta in Ukrainian Village.

What Christos didn't know was that their son Angelo Ladas, a hairdresser who worked next door, had grand ideas for Gyros Express, as the restaurant was then called. The son was tired of eating hot dogs.

And Angelo saw that the neighborhood was changing. The business class, young artists, hipsters and developers were moving in, pushing the roughnecks and gangs further west. Gone were the days when the family had to worry about their tenants paying rent, or tagging their building with graffiti. Angelo also noticed that hairdressers in Wicker Park were charging nearly $50 for a clip, while he pocketed only $15.

The neighborhood's newer residents wanted something healthier and more authentically ethnic, Angelo thought. More importantly, they were willing to pay more than $1.25, the price Christos charged for his hot dogs.

So he went behind his father's back and secretly began remodeling the building, putting in blue and white floor tiles, installing bathrooms and an outdoor deck where his dad once kept a rusty old Cadillac and devising a menu native to his parents' Greek home.

When Christos Ladas returned to Chicago in September 2003, he freaked out, Angelo remembered.

"Dad needed a haircut, so he came into the shop with this face that said, 'I'm gonna rip you apart,'" he said. "He told the guy who was finishing the deck, 'No, we don't need no deck.' But it was almost done, and I told him I'd already paid the guy."

"Who the hell is going to come here and eat Greek food?" Christos asked his son in disbelief.

The old man with a notorious temper arrived in New York City as a skinny, hungry 16-year-old by ship in 1949. He moved to Chicago and worked 17-hour days washing dishes at a restaurant in the South Loop before opening his first hot dog stand, which was known for its homemade fries, at the corner of Dickens and Halsted. The father had fallen behind the times, the younger Ladas claimed.

"He was still afraid he'd lose the customers who came in and paid $1.25 for a hot dog," he said.

Eventually, the son overcame the father and convinced him to accept the remodeled restaurant. Most importantly, Christos agreed to the menu of native dishes on which he and Voula had raised Angelo.

Out went the hot dogs, the polish sausages and the mozzarella sticks. In came the charbroiled souvlaki pork tenderloin on a stick, marinated in a blend of garlic and other secret ingredients; the mousaka layered with eggplant, zucchini, ground beef and potatoes; the spanakopita; and on certain occasions, Voula's lambshanks.

The day the Greek Corner opened in November 2003, the place filled up quickly, and almost no one pined for the hot dogs of yesteryear, Angelo said. The ambience had improved, a nostalgia for Greece hung in the late fall air, but the restaurant wasn't too fancy or expensive, and that was exactly the point.

"I didn't want a full blow restaurant with waiters and fine china," Angelo said. "People who want fine china can go to Greektown. I'm more concerned with neighborhood people."

Most of the traditional plates cost $7 to $12, and include a Greek salad and either rice, Athenian potatoes, vegetables or fries. Sandwiches, gyros and burgers run from $4 to $7.

The selling point of the Greek Corner isn't fine dining, as far as Angelo is concerned, but good, authentic food made by a Greek family.

Visiting an authentic Greek joint is like going to a club, said Angelo, who usually welcomes guests with a booming, jocular voice and can be seen around the neighborhood sporting a leather jacket and riding a Harley bike. He plays the bouzouki, a traditional Greek guitar, with a 15-piece orchestra and, having recovered from a recent spell with leukemia, hopes to re-open his salon next door if he can find a hair stylist to help out.

What you're served on the corner of Damen and Augusta won't arrive on gilded plates (the restaurant uses plastic), and a waiter in a suit won't carry it to your table (after ordering, you pick it up at the counter). But the Greek Corner might make you pine for the Greek isles and the blue of the Aegean Sea. It's a long way from hot dogs.

Best of all, Christos has since forgiven Angelo for secretly changing the family restaurant and admitted that Greek food was the way to go. Christos' didn't lose his old customers, they just order avgolemeno soup now instead of hot dogs. The son's odyssey has come full circle.

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