The best gyros are just outside of Chicago

and man, are they good

Hi everyone!

Sorry about the delay on this one; I’ve been extraordinarily busy. Long story short, I’ve had a lot of friends come into town for things like the James Beard Awards and pre-planned vacations, so I’ve been frantically showing people around town and have had barely had time to sit.

Phew. I’m here now, so hello, and I’ve missed you all!

Davida and I were running errands last weekend at Old Orchard mall, and for some reason, nothing there seemed to strike us just right that day. We weren’t in the mood for California Pizza Kitchen, Auntie Anne’s pretzels, Nando’s, or The Cheesecake Factory (though I am frequently tempted by all four, also, back off), so on our way back to Chicago, we decided to take a little detour.

We got off 94 onto Dempster heading west, and headed to Morton Grove. This stretch of Dempster might look like just a bunch of boring strip malls, but trust me, it’s no ordinary corridor. It’s speckled with interesting restaurants, including Korean, Afghan, thin crust and deep dish pizza joints, Chinese, and more.

But if you head a little further west, before all the big box stores start popping up, you’ll drive by a little restaurant whose signs are so sun-bleached you can’t read what they say. Don’t think twice. Turn in the driveway.

This curious little building is actually a Greek counter service establishment called Charcoal Flame Grill.

Charcoal Flame is clearly one that’s been through multiple iterations. It looks like it was a Wendy’s or a Taco Bell in a former life, and from the relatively plain blue and gray exterior, you’d have no idea what you were about to walk into. But brace yourselves, everyone. I’m just going to flat out say it: This place might have the best gyros in all of Chicagoland.

Calling it a “Greek” gyros sandwich might sound redundant, but it’s labeled that way for a reason. That’s because there’s another option, the “American” version, which features one of those homogenous cylindrical loaves of beef and lamb manufactured by Kronos (did you know Kronos is based in Chicago?).

The Greek version isn’t made of beef or lamb, but rather pork, which is apparently way more common in Greece. It’s still cooked on one of those cool vertical rotating spits, which you can see in the kitchen, but this meat is stacked like shawarma. When it’s shaved off the sides it comes off in crisp and juicy little strips, and is all jammed into a pita with fries, tomatoes, onions, and homemade tzatziki sauce.

After growing up solely on the loaf type, which I fucking love, I had no idea that gyros could be this good. Sheer bliss for $10.

If you order any platter, you’ll get the option of salad or soup (included in the price).

The salad is fine, it’s just a stripped down plate of iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes, but the avgolemono soup is really where it’s at. This lemon and egg soup is so smooth it borders on custard-like, and is studded with rice, which makes it filling and comforting. Just by looking at its pale color, you wouldn’t think it’d have that much flavor, but it’s so bright from the lemon juice with a rounded creaminess that it kind of catches you off guard.

Even knowing we’d over-ordered, Davida and I scraped that bowl clean and neither of us feels guilty that we did.

One thing that’s interesting about a lot of small Greek restaurants in Chicago, like Charcoal Flame, is that they often masquerade as hot dog stands.

So you’ll see stuff like hot dogs, burgers, Italian beef sandwiches, all the usual suspects, which are usually pretty good. But if you smell garlic and see anything like souvlaki or kebobs on the menu, that’s a dead giveaway that you’re at a Greek-owned place.

If you’re not necessarily in the mood for a gyro, the pork kebobs here are absolutely beautiful ($12.75 for a plate of two skewers). As you can see, they’ve got a nice char to them, and like the gyros, the meat is juicy, seasoned with plenty of salt and oregano. And as a nice touch, the skewers are split in the middle for you, which makes eating them so much easier. You don’t have to worry about poking your fucking eye out during lunch.

Get them with the rice (pilaf-style, cooked in broth), and Greek potatoes. The potatoes are tender, almost creamy, and tossed in plenty of garlic and lemon. I’ve had some really terrible souvlaki and really terrible Greek potatoes at some of these mom-and-pop hot dog stands around Chicago, but Charcoal Flame’s versions are exactly what you imagine they should be.

I’d heard through the grapevine that the Greek chicken ($12.75) was excellent here too.

The meat is roasted to a nice deep brown, and is moist, portioned and seasoned well (there’s easily two meals here), and it comes with some amusingly flattened garlic bread made out of the same Turano rolls that Italian beef is served on. It’s quite a dinner platter. And what’s awesome is that all the juices from the chicken soak into the rice, so you can imagine how good it gets towards the bottom of the plate.

The spanakopita ($9.95) is delicately fall-apart flaky on the outside, but the phyllo cradles the rich spinach filling well.

Davida particularly loved the spinach pie. Man, we really should eat spanakopita more often. I’m a little puzzled about the tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki sauce that were served on the side, because I’ve never seen it served this way, but okay! (Maybe one of you can inform me below whether or not this is common practice.)

And we couldn’t help but sneak in an order of baklava too ($3.95).

I mean, after our baklava shake experience from Ragadan, we’re pretty hooked on it right now. It’s a little hard to tell from this photo, but this baklava is particularly tall, and stuffed with a ton of deliciously rich nut and honey filling. The standout spice is cinnamon, and its presence is stronger here in most of the baklava I’ve ever eaten. We kept sneaking bites of it between all the other stuff we had, and there’s no law that says you can’t do that.

Something I noticed while we were eating is that the takeout game at Charcoal Flame is strong. Almost everyone who came in had either phoned in their order or were ordering their food to go. We’d showed up at a bit of an in-between time, around 3 p.m., and the takeout traffic was impressively constant.

I’d also like to note the prices, because in terms of bang for your buck, this whole pile of food we ordered came out just shy of $60, including tax (don’t forget to tip!). That’s shockingly good. Going out to eat is so expensive these days, but I felt like we were practically robbing the place for what we paid. And though you do need a car to get here, it’s pretty much just north of city limits, which means you don’t have any excuses not to go to Charcoal Flame.

I never thought I’d be floored by gyros, but here we are today. I’m already planning a trip back. Wanna come?

Charcoal Flame
6800 Dempster St
Morton Grove, IL 60053
(847) 966-1200

Hours:
Mon-Saturday: 11 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

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