Boston’s homegrown Greek restaurant company Saloniki opened its third location in the new Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center at Harvard University (24 Dunster Street, Cambridge, MA). The new location will serve as Saloniki’s flagship property and test kitchen, where co-founders chef Jody Adams—a 2018 James Beard Foundation “Who’s Who in Food & Beverage in America” inductee—CEO Eric Papachristos and COO Jonathan Mendez will pilot an expanded service model with a full bar program and an array of new food and beverage offerings. Founded in Spring 2016, Saloniki offers a friendly gathering place for progressive Greek cuisine, driven by a strong food ethos of sustainable sourcing and scratch cooking, with two existing fast-casual restaurants in Fenway and Cambridge’s Central Square, near the MIT campus.
Departing from the traditional fast-casual model found at its first two restaurants, Harvard Square will usher in the next phase of Saloniki, placing a renewed focus on the dine-in experience to create an environment where guests will want to linger over a cocktail with friends or enjoy a leisurely dinner with family. After placing their order at the register, Harvard Square guests will be free-seated in the main dining room and their food and drinks will be brought to them. Servers will circulate the dining room with tablets, available to take any supplementary orders and offer guidance about the menu.
Saloniki Harvard Square marks Chefs Adams’ return to the neighborhood, where she helmed award winning dining institution Rialto for more than 20 years. Overseeing the company’s test kitchen, Chef Adams will be accompanied by culinary manager, Chef Pantazis Deligiannis, who joins the team from Thessaloniki, Greece-the restaurants’ namesake city and hometown of Papachristos. The new location will offer daily breakfast (launching soon), in addition to lunch and dinner service, as well as a full coffee and espresso program, a new line of freshly-baked Greek pastries, and a brand new 13-seatMezé bar, where guests can enjoy an all-Greek wine by the glass list, an extensive selection of local and Greek craft beers and a cutting edge draught cocktail system, accompanied by a selection of small plates.
Saloniki Harvard Square will offer catering, as well as delivery through UberEats, Caviar, GrubHub and Postmates, and pre-ordering for pickup, available through its website and mobile application. Saloniki is open seven days a week, 11am-10pm, with extended breakfast hours coming soon.
Saloniki Harvard Square will offer a full La Colombe coffee menu, including drip coffee and espresso, draft lattes, cold brew, Saloniki’s signature frozen Frappé (whipped Nescafé, Greek condensed milk and sugar) Freddo Espresso, whipped and poured over ice, and Freddo Cappuccino: frothed Greek condensed milk poured over iced espresso.
A variety of Greek pastries baked in-house will also be available all day. Savory offerings include warm, made-to-order pitas with your choice of Saloniki’s classic spreads, and Phyllo Pies with flavors such as Greens & Cheese with greens, leeks, onions, garlic, feta, yogurt and cracked black pepper and Chicken & Mushroom with red peppers and red onion.
Sweet pastries include Loukoumades: Greek doughnuts topped with Nutella, honey & cinnamon, sour cherry or baklava crumbles, Koulouri: Greek sesame “bagel” with Greek yogurt and fresh fruit, Portokalopita: orange-phyllo cake with orange flower water, Trigona: cream-filled buttery phyllo triangle, Greek Sesame Butter Cookies, Semolina-Almond cake with mastic and lemon syrup, and Baklava Crisps. Saloniki’s signature Greek yogurt will be available as well with a choice of toppings including homemade lemon curd, honey, sour cherry or fig jam, as well as a new Frozen Greek Yogurt during lunch and dinner service.
The lunch and dinner menu will feature Pitas and Plates, where guests can build their own creation or choose from an expanded selection of Classics, including the Herc, Niko, George, Katerina, Jimmy and Despena combinations, also available at Fenway and Central Square, as well as two new additions: Theo with beef & mushroom slider, tzatziki and secret sauce, and Yianniwith crispy fried chicken and spicy yogurt sauce, both finished with greens, tomato, red onion, Greek fries, spicy slaw & fresh herbs.
Grilled Souvlaki skewers will be available as well, with a choice of lamb, chicken or pork, in a mustard-vinegar marinade, as well as several Salads, including the Mt. Olympus, Mykonos, Village, Super Greens, a seasonally rotating offering, and the newly added Dakos with barley rusk, tomato vinaigrette, tomatoes, olives, capers, oregano, farmer cheese.
For those looking to sample a variety of Greek flavors, the Mezé Bar will feature an array of small plates, including Saloniki classics such as Zucchini-Feta Fritters, Lamb Meatballs and Greek Fries, along with more than a dozen new bites, such as Moussaka, Ratatouille, Roasted Eggplant Stack with tomato, feta, garlic yogurt and herb salad; Fried Feta-Graviera Cheese Balls with fennel and tomato vinaigrette; Orzo with greens, feta, tomato and scallions; and Fried Cauliflower with chopped olive tapenade, secret sauce, mizithra and Aleppo pepper.
The bar program is helmed by COO Jonathan Mendez, who previously oversaw the beverage program at TRADE, where he first met Papachristos and Adams. Expanding guests’ opportunities to interact with Greek culture, the bar will feature all Greek wines, both draft and bottles, including sparking, white and red options, as well as Retsina, a white resinated wine to which Aleppo pine resin is added during fermentation. Bottled beer will be imported from Greek breweries such as Fix, Mythos, Crazy Donkey and Volkan, while local beer will be poured on draught, including Harpoon IPA and Saloniki Saison, Notch Brewing pilsner, Lost Nation gose and rotating lines from Night Shift and Maine Beer Co. Six house cocktails will be served on draught as well, made with Greek flavors and ingredients, including:
- Mykonos-Tequila, Amita Peach, Lemon, Mt. Olympus Tea, Chili
- Rakomelo Spritz- Rakomelo, Aperol, Lime, Sparkling Rosé
- Cleopatra- Mastiha, Basil, Lemon
- Ladadika Highball- Bourbon, Diktamo, Ginger, Lemon
- Xenia- Vodka, Lillet, Blueberry, Cardamom, Vanilla
- Thessalotiki- Rum, Metaxa, Grenadine, Lime, Tiki Bitters
Non-alcoholic beverages will include a variety of bottled sodas, juices and waters imported from Greece, along with a menu of homemade iced teas, in partnership with Mem Tea Imports in Watertown, MA, and lemonades, including:
- Greek Iced Tea -Unsweetened black tea, citrus peel, mint
- Jody’s Lemonade – Lemon, cucumber, fresh mint
- Mountain Iced Tea – Mt. Olympus Flowers, wild herbs, pomegranate, honey
- Visino Limeade – Greek sour cherry, fresh lime juice, mint
- Peach Lemonade – Greek peach juice, mint, fresh lemon juice
