Gyros
Chicago popularized the gyro in America. Here's where to get a great one, from Greektown to neighborhood grills.
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Mr. Greek Gyros
The Greektown gyro counter that has fed cab drivers, clubgoers and students for years. The textbook Chicago gyro.
Greek Islands
Greektown's flagship family restaurant since 1971, for gyros as a sit-down meal with the full Greek-American works.
Athenian Room
A family-owned Lincoln Park Greek diner since 1972, famous for its gyros and fries soaked in lemony chicken juices.
Central Gyros
A Northwest Side institution that has served its own beef-forward gyros for about half a century.
It's Greek 2 U Grill
A small family Greek grill that plenty of North Siders say makes the best gyro in the city.
Taxim
A modern regional Greek restaurant best known for its duck gyros, the upscale take on the dish Chicago made famous.
Charcoal Flame Grill
A no-frills north-suburban grill whose house-made gyro cone many fans call the best in the Chicago area.
Chicago's gyro story
The gyro as most Americans know it, with seasoned beef-and-lamb meat carved from a spinning cone and wrapped in warm pita, took off in Chicago in the 1960s and '70s. Local companies began making the cones and shipping them across the country, and the city's Greek diners and grills made the gyro a Chicago staple.
How to order: a gyro sandwich with raw onions, tomato and plenty of tzatziki (cucumber-yogurt sauce). Add fries, ideally with a squeeze of lemon and a shake of oregano.
Where to go: Greektown on Halsted Street, just west of the Loop, is the heart of it, but some of the city's best gyros come from neighborhood grills far from downtown.
Good to know: at a sit-down Greek restaurant, order the flaming saganaki cheese. The waiter lights it tableside and everyone shouts "Opa!"