Libertyville brothers realize dream of opening new restaurant
The next restaurant to open in downtown Libertyville's plentiful menu of offerings is the dream of two hometown brothers.
"That's why we went to (culinary) school together. This ultimately was the end game," explained Nick Dimitriou, who with brother, Theo, is putting the finishing touches on Chrissoulas on the northeast corner of School Street and Milwaukee Avenue.
The new venture is replacing Salerno's Ristorante & Pizzeria, which opened in 2015 but closed this year. The menu will feature Greek fare using sustainable local products and a focus on seafood and chef-driven specials. Classics like octopus, pastitsio, moussaka and souvlaki are on the developing menu, and a selection of about 30 Greek wines also is planned.
"We want to bring you the kind of Greek food we grew up on," Theo said. "A lot of these (menu items) are family recipes," he added.
Chrissoulas is the first name of their grandmother.
"She's one of the main reasons why we love food so much," Nick Dimitriou said.
For nine years, he had been the head chef at the former Philly G's in Vernon Hills. He was working at NorthShore Sports Club in Lake Forest earlier this year when he heard the space at 602 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Libertyville was available.
"I've been looking for seven years for a spot. You can find a couple of good places but nothing that was ready to go," he said. The search took him north to Kenosha and south to Lake-Cook Road but the Libertyville location literally became the opportunity of a lifetime.
"It's not only the best location I've found, I think it's the best spot in Libertyville," he said. "There are people going up and down the street all day, every day."
Theo Dimitriou was living in San Diego and working as executive chef at Cafe Chloe, a popular French bistro, and then Minou, a Parisian-style creperie cafe, that opened nearby in San Diego by the same owners.
Theo came home when Nick called with the opportunity and both San Diego restaurants closed after left.
"Everything fell together at the right time," Theo said. After a few months of talks, the deal closed July 18. No build out was required and a lot of the work involved cleaning and painting inside and out.
The first linen delivery was Thursday and the pair will be interviewing servers and other help, meeting with purveyors, dealing with endless details and readying for a village inspection in advance of opening in early October.
Rather than worrying about the competition from what has become a restaurant row of non-chain destinations, the brothers say they are bringing something different to the table and adding to the available selection downtown.