You’ve likely had a Greek salad before, but if you live in the Detroit area, you know there’s something special about a Detroit Greek salad.
I definitely did. Growing up in the city’s suburbs, I can attest that this salad was a staple in my household. My family would regularly grab them for a quick dinner. As I got older, my friends and I would meet for a “cheap Greek salad,” which cost about $6 in my teenage years. Now, when I return to Michigan, it’s a must-eat during every visit.
Here’s where the difference lies: A classic Greek salad has no lettuce, built instead from cucumbers, red onions, green peppers, Kalamata olives, and a block of feta, with a simple dressing of olive oil, oregano, and sometimes a splash of red wine vinegar.
In Detroit, a Greek salad does, in fact, have lettuce: specifically, iceberg. And while my hometown’s version does include tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, often red onions, and feta cheese (crumbled, not in a tidy block), the Detroit Greek salad also includes pepperoncini, occasionally some garbanzo beans, and the signature addition: canned, pickled beets. When it comes to the dressing, you’ll find oil and vinegar-based and creamy versions, often depending on which diner you’re eating at.
I know that you can find Americanized Greek salads in pizza shops and Panera Bread cafés throughout the country, but I would argue that those are a shadow of what we represent in Detroit, especially when it comes to the beets.
That’s a Detroit thing.
How Detroit Created Its Own Greek Salad
The story of the Detroit Greek salad begins with waves of immigrants beginning around the turn of the 20th century and swelling in 1912, as Greeks fled persecution in Turkey, and boosted just two years later by Henry Ford’s offer to pay $5 a day to workers at his Detroit factory. Among those immigrants were entrepreneurs eager to open restaurants with dishes and recipes from home, but that also adapted to American tastes and began innovating new creations like hot dogs topped with a meaty chili.
Possibly inspired by taking in the pleasurable sights of New York City before moving to the Midwest, those early Greek cooks dubbed them “Coney Island” dogs. The name stuck and eventually grew to include the names of Greek-owned diners. In fact, two historic Coney Islands are still around: American Coney Island, opened by Gust Keros in 1917, and Lafayette Coney Island, opened by his brother William in 1924.
Over time, the evolution of salad followed. “All the other salads in America had iceberg lettuce or romaine,” Yanni Dionisopoulos, co-owner of The Golden Fleece in Detroit’s Greektown neighborhood, told Taste. “So this became the add-on to get Americans more familiar with it. To make them think it was a regular salad.” Dionisopoulos’s theory about the pepperoncini and the beets? “People associate pickled things with Greek cuisine,” he said. Traditional Greek salads were often still on the menus, but were called “Village” Salads. The best of all worlds.
What About Those 2 Dressings?
Detroit Greek salads feature not one but two standard dressings, not to mention loyalists for each. Some, like Leo’s Coney Island, run by the brothers Leo and Peter Stassinopoulos and one of the largest Coney Island chains with locations across the metro Detroit area, use an oil and vinegar-based dressing with a variety of spices and other ingredients. The dressing was so popular that the brothers began bottling and selling bottles of it in 2018.
Detroit’s other Greek salad dressing, usually called just Pink Dressing, lives up to its name with a pale pink and creamy texture, getting its color from beet juice and sometimes some red wine vinegar, and its texture from emulsification (or using the shortcut of adding olive-oil-based mayonnaise). But don’t try to get the recipe out of that diner owner—most remain tightly held family secrets, just like what’s in the chili atop a Coney dog.
But that’s the fun of Detroit’s Coney Islands and their Greek salads. It’s all wrapped up in history, family, and tradition. Panera? No thanks. I’ll take my iceberg lettuce with a touch of pickled beets, please. In Detroit.
Allrecipes / Abbey Littlejohn
How to Make Your Own Detroit Greek Salad
Locals continue to tinker with this classic recipe, from removing the beets or cucumbers, replacing raw onions with grilled or burnt (my personal favorite!), or adding a protein like grilled chicken or gyro meat. Serve the Detroit way with pita bread, which you can toast, brush with oil and grill, or butter and throw on a griddle.
Serves: 1-2
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 cups chopped iceberg lettuce
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 small beefsteak tomato, cut into wedges
- 3 to 4 cucumber slices
- 4 canned beet slices (save some of the canned liquid for the dressing)
- 4 pepperoncini, for garnish
- 4 Kalamata olives
- 1/4 cup canned garbanzo beans (Optional)
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion (Optional)
Directions
- On a large plate or bowl, assemble lettuce and top with feta, tomato, cucumbers, beets, pepperoncini, olives, beans, and onion.
- Serve with Pink Dressing on the side.
How to Make Pink Dressing
This creamy version relies on olive oil mayonnaise for its texture. If you’re looking for a non-creamy dressing, give this Absolutely Fabulous Greek Dressing a try.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup olive oil mayo (less if you want it less creamy)
- 1/2 cup beet juice (from a can of sliced beets)
- 1/2 cup feta
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
- Combine mayo, beet juice, feta, milk, olive oil, vinegar, sugar, garlic powder, oregano, dill, salt, and pepper in a blender and blend until thoroughly combined.
- Store in the fridge until ready to serve. Dressing will last for up to one week.
