CND Gyros and Lounge - Chicago

A casual acquaintance of mine who I run into a couple three times a year in the Quad Cities - WQAD news anchor Jason Fechner - was telling me a while back about this hole-in-the-wall lounge in downtown Chicago that he's known about since his days in college.  The name - CND Gyros and Lounge - was intriguing enough.  What Jason stressed to me was that it was the quintessential dive bar with great gyros and burgers.  "This is the kind of place you'd love," he told me one evening over a couple beers during the Christmas holiday last December.  I made it my mission to give it a shot at some point.

I was in downtown Chicago one evening in late January, staying at the Hilton Garden Inn on East Grand at State.  Jason had told me that CND Gyros was on East Grand just east of Michigan Ave.  (East Grand goes underneath Michigan Ave.)  It was about a five minute walk on a cool night when I went there around 8:30 p.m.  It turned out that the lounge was open until 10 p.m., but I was told by the raspy-voiced lady behind the bar that when food orders are slow, they'll close the kitchen early sometimes.  Ohhh, OK.  I ended up walking back to the hotel and having dinner at the Weber Grill Restaurant, so the evening wasn't a total waste. 

I was back in Chicago in the Spring and happened to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn again.  This time, it was a warm evening as I walked down busy East Grand to CND Gyros and Lounge (see map).  The place is situated just to the east of the corner of N. St. Clair and East Grand, right next to the Volare Restaurant, an Italian restaurant that is favored by the local population.  (I really need to try Volare at some point.) 

  
CND Gyros and Lounge is owned and operated by John Xamplas, a Grecian immigrant who has run the place for years and years.  How the "CND" name came about borders on legend.   The story I got is that when Xamplas bought the business a guy by the name of Chris owned the building next door.  Xamplas couldn't come up with a name for his place, so he decided to call it "Chris Next Door" or shortened to CND.  I don't know if that's the true story, but that's the one I heard. 

The menu for the restaurant is located in the front window of the restaurant/lounge.  Not only is CND Gyros known for their gyros and burgers, they also have a homemade chili that is supposed to be pretty good.  "Behind our gyros, our chili is the second best seller on the menu," the same raspy-voiced bartender told me.  They also have something called a "Gyro Melt" - a Texas Toast sandwich with gyro meat topped with grilled cheese and cheddar cheese.  While the Gyro Melt sounded interesting, I wanted to give their regular gyro a try. 

I walked in and the kitchen was open this time.  Not knowing the drill at the place, I stepped up to the counter at the kitchen under the "Order Here" sign and ordered a gyro.  The guy behind the counter asked me if I wanted a "gyro sandwich or a gyro platter."  The gyro platter basically came with french fries.  No, I'll just get the regular gyro. 

While he made up my gyro, an elderly guy came to take my money.  It turned out this was John Xamplas, the owner.  On the right is a picture of John behind the counter. 

What I really wanted was to have a beer in the lounge area of the restaurant.  I figured that they made the food up front and then you had to order the beer at the bar.  I got my gyro - it was in a plain brown paper bag - and I went to the bar to order an Old Style.  "Bottle or draw, darlin'," the raspy-voiced bartender asked.  I got it in a bottle.  It wasn't cheap - $3.50 a bottle.  Yow!  But, yes, I was in downtown Chicago and it certainly beat the $7.00 bottles of beer I was buying out in Hawaii. 

I found a table in the back of the place and sat down to eat my gyro.  Actually, instead of a gyro on a flat piece of pita, this was more of a pita pocket.  Two chunks of tomatoes were at the top and the tsaksiki sauce was served in a cup on the side.  The pita pocket was stuffed full of the gyro meat and I have to say it was very good.  The meat was a little salty, but the onions were fresh and forward tasting.  It was pretty damn good. 

Equally impressive was the cold beer.  Now, I like cold beer.  And the beer at CND Gyros was ice cold.  It was a great compliment to the very good gyro I finished in rather quickly. 

    
I decided to go back up to the bar and have another beer.  There weren't many people in the place, only a handful of people eating gyros.  I understand that it can get pretty packed during the lunch hour and later in the evening, especially on weekends when they have karaoke on Friday nights.  I ordered up another ice cold beer from the friendly bartender and took a good look around the place.  Even though there were pennants, team pictures and other sports memorabilia on the walls of CND Gyro and Lounge, they had a sitcom on a regular national network on the two televisions behind the bar.  I thought it was rather strange considering the Cubs were playing on television that evening. 

There was a great stained glass ceiling light above the bar area.  Behind the bar was cluttered with lottery tickets, signs and notices, liquor bottles and a line up of beer bottles of the brands they sold.  You could tell from conversations going on between the bartender and some of the people seated at the bar these were regulars who were there. 

Jason was right.  It was the exact kind of joint that I love - a homey, comfortable dive bar that just happened to have very good gyros.  It's far from fancy, but it's not a skid row slum bar, either.  I'm not certain they've changed the decor or many of the fixtures since when they first took over the place.  And that's helps add to the charm of CND Gyros and Lounge.  It's not a tourist destination by any stretch, but I can see why the locals in Chicago keep coming back for the great gyros and cold beer.  I may have to come back in the winter and try a bowl of chili with a cold beer.  Actually, that doesn't sound too bad in the middle of the summer. 

(Update - Jason went into Chicago on August 21 for one last meal at CND Gyros.  As his comment below states, the owner, John Xamplas decided 37 years was long enough.  It's not that he wanted to close, but his lease expired and the building had been sold to a new landlord - a new landlord who obviously saw the old building has being more of a liability than an asset.  Jason told me it was a bittersweet occasion - one that he'd remember for years.  I'm glad that I was able to, at least, have one experience at CND Gyros.)

Comments

[Jason]

Will;

Love the review. Sad to say, but the family's going to close the bar three weeks from tomorrow-- an end of an era. I'm going to drive in Saturday to spend the afternoon filling my face with gyros and those ice-cold beers you mentioned. Hope all's well!