Opa!
A Greektown-like Greek restaurant, grocery store and bakery is taking over the high-profile Abuelo's spot at U.S. 30 and Interstate 65 in Merrillville.
The new Athenian Greek Cuisine is going big.
The feta cheese, olives, olive oil, seafood and even the chefs are being brought in from Greece. The Athenian will have four different gyro cones going at any given time and roast whole lambs on a rotisserie on weekends. As many as 140 people will be able to dine outside on a patio with Greek columns draped with vines and leaves.
"It'll look nice," co-owner Andreas Andreou said.
The Athenian Greek Cuisine will be able to seat up to 290 in a dining room surrounded with columns and murals of the Greek countryside, including sweeping views of the wine-dark sea. Strings of light are strung in a zig-zag fashion overhead and a mural of a cloud-dappled sky is painted on the ceiling to give the sensation of dining outside in a courtyard.