Camera in the Kitchen: Venus Greek-Cypriot Cuisine

By Rachelle Bowden in Food on Oct 3, 2006 4:33PM

When Chicagoist made plans last week to go to Venus Greek-Cypriot Cuisine, we weren't sure what to expect. It's in Greektown and has Greek in the name, so we knew it'd have Greek food, but what's "Cypriot"? We learned quickly that what separates this restaurant from the rest in Greektown is that it's the only place in Chicago to feature the cuisine of Cyprus.

Venus is a bit more upscale than other places we've been to in Greektown. The menu has many similar things, but is marked with their specialties, which are all the Cypriotic dishes. The specialty is kleftiko, which is lamb wrapped in foil and slow-baked for six hours. The origin of this dish goes back to the Cypriot freedom fighters of the 19th century. This was by far the best of the food we ate that night.

We also had Cypriotic hummus, which was slightly different than the hummus we're used to. But, different in a good way. The koupepia (vine leaves stuffed with ground pork and rice and served with homemade yogurt) was outstanding. We had some seafood kebabs with rice pilaf, and while it was really good, we felt like we made a wrong choice by not sticking with the food of Cyprus and having a really unique experience. To drink, we had Keo Saint Panteleimon, a medium-sweet white wine from the island of Cyprus, and for dessert, galaktoboureko, a homemade egg custard filling in phyllo dough topped with syrup. Delicious.

The waitstaff at Venus was very informative about the menu and what makes the food of Cyprus unique, and the owner went around to every table to ask how everything was. If we had questions he happily answered them. For example, the portabellas that came with our kebabs were out of this world. We asked the owner how they were prepared, and he described this process of marinading them in red wine and then grilling them in it also. So good.

Venus is a bit off the Greektown beaten path. It's at 820 W. Jackson, and totally worth straying off Halsted just a bit. Prices for dinners range from about $10 - $25, so there's something for every price range.