Gyro and fries. Credit: Jeremy Bressman

Yanni’s Dogs (5318 N Broadway) opened recently with a ”soft opening” on Friday, December 7th in the space most recently occupied by The Burger Stop.  Located on Broadway just north of Berwyn in the small shopping center on the west side of the street, Yanni’s appears on the surface to be your Chicago standard hot dog joint offering up Chicago dogs, gyros, burgers, Italian beef and more.  What you’ll find, however, is that Yanni’s is a great little addition to the neighborhood with a friendly staff offering up some tasty grub.

The new ownership did an excellent job giving the space a facelift, as the interior is much brighter, crisper and cleaner than the previous restaurants and even boasts two flat screen TVs which had college football games playing during my stop in this weekend.  Despite having only been open a week, Yanni’s had numerous customers stop in during the short time I was there (after I took the picture where the place looks empty), and the staff quickly and effeciently attended to each customer, took their orders and cooked their food.  While waiting for my to-go order I had the opportunity to speak briefly with owner Johnny, who told me the restaurant is named after himself – Yanni is Greek for Johnny.  In addition, Johnny shared with me the fact that his talented chef would be frequently adding daily specials to to the menu – on Saturday the chef had prepared a pulled chicken sandwich on a pretzel bun made with homemade barbeque sauce.

While the daily special sounded amazing, I went with a menu staple – the gyro and fries (all sandwiches come with fries included).  The sandwich was tasty and cooked to perfection, the sauce tasted homeade, and the pita was even slightly toasted.  If there was one thing that wasn’t perfect that would have been the fries – I felt that they were a little undercooked, though that is likely a personal preference as I’m a huge fan of crunchy well done french fries.  By no means were they not-edible and I think that was evident as none would remain on my plate after my meal.  All in all I left Yanni’s with a great first impression, and surely I will be back.  You can follow Yanni’s on Facebook, and soon they will update/complete their website which is live but still under construction.  Eventually, Johnny said customers will even have the option of ordering online.

Tags: Chicago dog, foodie, restaurant review, Yanni's Dogs