Mimi Chryssikos spent her childhood cooking with her French mother and Greek father. Among her duties was drying the lettuce with an apron on their back porch in Uptown. She has a catering business. She is strongly against ketchup.
Chryssikos and her partner, Andrew Given, opened their deli on Montrose near Damen four years ago; before that they had sold marinades and salad dressings over the Internet. Mimi’s got smashing reviews, and customers started heading to Ravenswood from the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park. Still, walk-in traffic was never quite steady enough. After their fourth anniversary–September 11, 2001–it just got worse.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Given met Chryssikos when she was working in a French pastry shop, where she was using her homemade salad dressings in the sandwiches. He had majored in entrepreneurship at DePaul, and they started talking about how to market the dressings. In the process she taught him how to cook; he taught her how to sell.
