‘Different vibe, same people’: Greek-themed Libertyville restaurant will transition to West Side Ramen

Owners say their reimagined Mediterranean dishes at Chrissoulas restaurant in downtown Libertyville have been well received. But after six years, the Dimitriou brothers are permanently changing the menu.

Nick and Theo Dimitriou aren’t going anywhere and within a span of a few days later this month, the interior of the Greek-themed Chrissoulas at 602 N. Milwaukee Ave., will be transformed into West Side Ramen.

Closing the restaurant named for their grandmother will be tough but strategic, says Nick, who works the crowd and sometimes the bar as general manager.

“It’s bittersweet. It’s our first restaurant together,” explained Nick Dimitriou of the pending changeover. The hometown brothers and trained chefs opened Chrissoulas in the fall of 2018.

“We’ve made so many great memories and new friends but obviously at the end of the day, it’s a business decision,” he added.

Chrissoulas’ last day of service will be Oct. 26. Six days later, it will reopen full-time focused on ramen, a versatile Japanese noodle dish introduced out of necessity during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think people love ramen because it’s a great comfort food and can be prepared in such a variety of ways,” said Nick Dimitriou.

Theo, he added, uses old traditional cooking method of drawing the flavor out of bones and vegetables rather than using additions like flavor packets or MSG.

While the atmosphere and menu will be completely different, the changeover will be like flipping a switch.

“Different vibe, same people,” Nick Dimitriou explained. “It’s all our same staff. Nobody goes away.”

The new business model will be easier to run, be more lucrative and allow the brothers time to pursue a new venture involving a planned string of Acai shops.

West Side Ramen was introduced out of necessity as a pop-up offering.

“We had to adapt to doing take out, which we never did before the pandemic,” Nick Dimitriou said.

The pop-up West Side Ramen returned for a limited engagement in early 2022 with in-person dining inside of Chrissoulas and returned for the entire first part of 2023.

“They were the three biggest months we ever did,” Nick Dimitriou explained. Rather than operating two business models, the pair opted to pursue the hot hand.

West Side Ramen is on the east side of Milwaukee Avenue.

“Since we were deciding to open a completely different, opposite restaurant from Chrisoulas in almost every way, we also thought the name of our new businesses should reflect that in some subtle way,” Nick Dimitriou said.

But there is another venture on the horizon — a business they're calling Teeko’s Acai. The first shop is planned to open in the Vernon Hills Town Center complex at routes 45 and 21.

The target market for the bowls filled with the nutrient-dense acai berry will be a younger demographic, according to Nick Dimitriou.

“That’s just the first one,” he said of the Vernon Hills location. “We plan on opening a number of these.”