Johnny's Beef & Gyros: 'Everything Sells Here, Everything Moves'

JOLIET, IL — The local restaurant landscape has changed dramatically in recent years as rapidly expanding fast-food franchises have opened new restaurants across Joliet: Chick-fil-A, Pop's Italian Beef, Portillo's Pickup and Raising Cane's.

And then there's Johnny's Beef & Gyros.

Johnny's has been a mainstay on Joliet's west side since 2005. Johnny's is not part of any national restaurant franchise. It's family owned and operated, started by long-time Joliet restaurateurs George and Eleni Anastopoulos.

These days, Demetri Anastopoulos helps his dad run their Joliet restaurant. Demetri's two brothers, Nick and Johnny, run the family's second restaurant, on North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, near DePaul University.

Located at the corner of West Jefferson Street and Houbolt Road, Johnny's is open daily at 3567 West Jefferson St.

It's open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Johnny's has a large dining room and a large outdoor covered patio.

"We make our own homemade Greek salad dressing and barbecue sauce and cucumber sauce," Demetri Anastopoulos told Joliet Patch's editor.

The owners explained that their burgers come from certified Angus beef.

Gyros, hot dogs and the Big Daddy Burger are among the customer favorites at Johnny's.

What's the Big Daddy Burger?

The menu describes it as "our famous double cheeseburger topped with gyros meat, grilled onion, plus your choice of BBQ or homemade Tzatziki sauce."

The menu brochure for Johnny's is several pages long.

There's breaded mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, battered onion rings and fried pickles among the many appetizers. You can order a rib-eye steak sandwich, a charbroiled chicken sandwich, a Reuben sandwich, corned beef on rye, a poorboy steak sandwich or a Philly steak sandwich.

There's clubs and wraps, shrimp baskets, half-slab and full-slab rib dinners.

The seven combo meals consist of: a Chicago style hot dog, cheeseburger, gyros sandwich, Italian beef, two Chicago Style hot dogs, Philly steak and the Big Daddy Burger.

You can also buy "Johnny's Famous Italian Beef" with au jus by the pound, as well as the gyros and the chicken gyros by the pound.

And that's only a portion of the entire menu.

If someone walked in off the street and didn't know what to order, "I'd recommend them a gyro, or Italian beef or a pizza puff," Demetri said. "We use Grecian Delight gyros. They bought out Kronos gyros. We use Vienna beef, too."

At this point, the Anastopoulos family has no plans on the horizon to start opening a bunch of new restaurants.

Back in the 1970s, George Anastopoulos ran the Stock Pot restaurant, which was inside Joliet's Town & Country Bowling Lanes. Years later, he operated the Plainfield Family Restaurant at the corner of Renwick Road and Route 30, which is now the site of the Speedway gas station.

For the past 17 years, Johnny's Beef & Gyros has remained his focus.

"We know a lot of people from just being here. My dad, he's been feeding families for generations," Demetri said.

While Joliet, Shorewood and Channahon are the core communities for business, Johnny's also draws a lot of interstate traffic. Johnny's is about a mile east of the Interstate 55 exit for Joliet along Route 52.

In addition to the sit-down restaurant, Johnny's has six video slot machines.

What gives Demetri satisfaction at Johnny's?

"Seeing the smiles on peoples' faces," he said. "Everything sells here. Everything moves. If I could cut down this menu, I would, but it just seems impossible to do."

If Johnny's scaled back its menu, "I would make someone's day not right," Demetri remarked.

Because Johnny's does not have a drive-thru window, that's allowed the Anastopoulos family to have a more personalized connection with their customers.

As far as dedicated customers, Demetri said there's one husband and wife from Ottawa who visit Johnny's every month.

"These people stop at the doctor's office, and then they always come here for their cheeseburger meals," Demetri said.

Johnny's has a whopping 839 Google Reviews, averaging 4.4 stars out of 5 stars.

"Day in and day out, we want to be consistent with what we do," Demetri told Joliet Patch. "I've got a good staff right now. When the employees like you, they'll stick around. I've been grateful to have good staff."

The number for Johnny's is 815-725-1590. There's also catering and delivery available.

For online ordering, visit the Johnny's Beef & Gyros website.