Will Chicago happily eat dolmades and drink roditis in Trump Tower?

     In southern Greece, at the foot of Mount Artemisio, is a tiny village called Nestani. About 500 people live there, some still herding goats, as did their fathers and grandfathers before. Above the town, built into the imposing Rock of Goulas, is a monastery, founded in the 13th century. And on the gate of that monastery is an inscription, honoring the women of "Sikago" for their generosity sending money back for renovations.
     Local lore insists that more people born in Nestani live in Chicago than live in the village itself. Many came here over the past century and made a good living.
     One of them is Petros Kogiones, whose Dianna's Opaa was a beloved fixture on Halsted Street from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.
     "From every other house somebody came to America, came to Chicago," Kogiones, 89, remembered when I phoned to chat. "Some had coffee shops or candy shops."
     Why did Greeks go into food service?
     "It was the natural thing to do," said Kogiones. "For Greeks, it was the easiest thing. With a lack of language, what else could they do? Wash the dishes. Cooking, like me."
     Dianna's closed 30 years ago. But we are still a city blessed with excellent Greek restaurants. My favorite, Psistaria Greek Taverna on Touhy, is a boisterous room. Lively service. And great food. The chicken spanaki. The center cut pork chops. The green beans.
     Chicago's Greektown was decimated by the twin blows of UIC and expressway expansion. But there are still plenty of Greek eateries on the shred that remained: Greek Islands and Athena and Artopolis Bakery, where I would reverently visit to stock up on melomakarona, those luscious honey cookies, before diabetes made the practice unwise.
     And those are just the old-school places. There are many newer Greek restaurants, like Lyra in Fulton Market and Elia in Bucktown.
     With more coming. In Tuesday's paper, we learned that a La Grange restaurant, Prasino, is opening in the base of Trump Tower.
     Normally, I'd welcome any addition to the Greek restaurant pantheon, particularly one as centrally located as Wabash just north of the river.

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