Market Grille Cafe takes pride in homemade menu

Joe Pierro can count on one hand -- on two fingers, even -- the things on Market Grille Cafe's menu that aren't homemade.

Cannoli shells. Pita bread. Both of which, Pierro adds, are purchased from local purveyors.

"Everything else, we make -- marinades, sauces, dressings, everything," says Pierro, who, with his wife, Rhonda, opened their newest Market Grille Cafe four months ago at 7070 N. Durango Drive.

The Durango location -- like the Market Grille Cafe that the couple has operated for about 2½ years at 7175 W. Lake Mead Blvd. -- features a menu of mostly Greek dishes (Rhonda's heritage) spiced up by a few Italian touches (Joe's heritage).

The new location features full-service dining in a 232-seat room, at a 12-table patio and in a banquet room that seats 60.

With its Mediterranean decor -- including latticework and strategically placed grapevines -- guests probably won't even recognize the space as a former Chili's.

"We just gutted it out inside," Pierro says. "The biggest form of flattery is when somebody comes in here and doesn't know what it used to be."

Many items are served either a la carte or as full entrees with the addition of such sides as rice, hummus, pita bread and salad.

Greek items include marinated and grilled skewers ranging in price from $5.25 for vegetable to $8.25 for lamb or filet tenderloin; gyros from $6.50 to $8.95; moussaka, $8.75 a la carte or $10.95 as an entree; and pastitsio, $8.25 a la carte and $10.50 as an entree.

Featured Italian dishes include Papou's pasta (tomato sauce, garlic and onion) at $7.25 and $9.95.

Also featured are a selection of Mediterranean wraps and Market Grille Cafe's signature "Opa-Ninis," open-faced panini on pita bread.

A children's menu is available, as is a menu that highlights the restaurant's vegan and gluten-free selections.

Market Grille Cafe offers a daily lunch special from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. that includes a soup, a salad, a beverage and a choice of one of four entrees for $7.50.

A daily happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. offers $1-off appetizers and $1-off domestic beers and house wines.

Market Grill Cafe is open from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Reservations aren't required, but are recommended for large parties.

Signature items: Opa-Ninis, $7.25 vegetable and $7.50 chicken

Starters: saganaki, $9.75; kalamata and cheese, $6.95; combination platter (hummus, tabouli, baba ganoush, Greek salad, dolmades and falafels), $10.95

Soups and salads: pumpkin-mushroom soup or creamy cilantro soup, $3.50 small or $5.50 large; Greek pasta salad, $5.95 small or $8.95 large

Entrees: Greek trio platter (spanakopita, pastitsio and moussaka), $10.75 a la carte or $12.95 as an entree; stuffed tomatoes or green peppers, $8.75 a la carte or $10.95 as an entree; pasta Giovanni (penne with chicken, spinach and Parmesan cheese), $9.50 a la carte or $11.95 as an entree

Desserts: Aphrodite's cheesecake $4.95; pumpkin baklava cheesecake, $5.25; a platter of any three desserts, $12.25

Information: 396-0070

By JOHN PRZYBYS