Flaming Saganaki appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Flaming saganaki · Chicago
Floured kefalograviera cheese pan-fried in butter, doused in Metaxa brandy at the table and set alight to cries of OPA. Invented in Greektown Chicago in 1968, has nothing to do with Greece.
Flaming saganaki was invented in 1968 at the Parthenon restaurant on Halsted Street in Chicago's old Greektown. Owner Chris Liakouras put a match to brandy-doused fried cheese at the suggestion of a regular customer; the table cried OPA in delight, and the format was born. Every other Greek restaurant on Halsted adopted it within months. Saganaki itself (pan-fried cheese with lemon) is an ancient Greek meze, but the flaming brandy treatment is a 100% Chicago invention. The Parthenon closed in 2016 after 48 years, but the tradition is carried on at Greek Islands (since 1971), Athena, 9 Muses and Ithaki Estiatorio on the surviving South Halsted strip.
Where to eat in Chicago:
- Greek Islands