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A ‘Measure-with-Your-Heart’ Recipe for Village Salad from Greektown Mainstay Nine Muses

Meredith Francis
A Greek salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and Kalamata olives.

Yianni Theoharis says he’s seen Chicago’s Greektown neighborhood change a lot since he first bought Nine Muses Bar and Grill back in 1991.

“Greektown is shrinking, and shrinking rapidly,” he says.

According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, in the late 1800s, the city’s Greek population settled in the area near Halsted and Harrison streets, so it was called Greektown. But with the construction of both the University of Illinois Chicago and the Eisenhower Expressway in the 1960s, the neighborhood’s footprint shrank. Since then, Greektown has mostly been centered on Halsted between the expressway and Madison Street.

Theoharis is “Athenian-born and raised,” and he moved to Chicago in 1979. Buying a restaurant was a natural decision, since his family is in the food business, too – his relatives own Pete’s Fresh Market and other grocery stores in the Chicago area. Back when Theoharis bought Nine Muses, he said there were nine or ten Greek restaurants in Greektown. But it’s changed in the decades since.

“There were so many restaurants. There were so many people there. It was so lively,” he says.

Despite the neighborhood’s smaller size, Theoharis says Greektown is still the place to be for authentic Greek and Mediterranean food. And with the annual Taste of Greektown festival coming up on August 26-28, Theoharis says he’s glad to see some of that lively spirit return to the neighborhood.

“Greektown is one of the few pockets in the city right now that is a little bit untouched. You still have old buildings,” he says. “It’s comfortable.”

One of the dishes Nine Muses always showcases at the festival is the restaurant’s famous Village Salad. A traditional Greek salad, it is a flexible dish that is good with chicken, seafood, white wine, red wine, in the summer, in the winter, or for any occasion, says Theoharis. The idea is that any of the ingredients are something that could come from the backyard of a home in a Greek village –  simple yet flavorful. He says the key is to use extra virgin olive oil.

As for the measurements? Theoharis says that this is the kind of salad that involves “measuring with your heart.” He recommends tasting the dressing as you make it to see how the flavors work for you. You can also add other things to it, like squash, anchovies, or capers.

Village Salad

Dressing:

3 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp cold-pressed balsamic vinegar (at least twelves months old)
Sprinkle of Greek oregano
Touch of mustard
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of black pepper

Salad:

3 ripe seedless tomatoes on the vine, sliced into wedges
Half of an English or Persian cucumber, diced
Half of a fresh red onion, sliced into rings
Quarter of an organic green pepper, cut into strips
Organic Greek sheep milk feta
Kalamata olives

Directions:

1.Whisk together dressing ingredients. Adjust flavors to taste.

2. Mix together salad ingredients. Pour dressing over salad.