Schaumburg taverna serves traditional dishes in homey setting

The Revelis family opened their first restaurant in the fall of 1963, and they're still going strong. Greek Village Taverna, launched by Nick Revelis in 1999, continues to offer vibrant Greek fare in the bright dining room designed to resemble an old-fashioned, Grecian village courtyard. Complete with a large fake tree, rustic arches, hanging plastic grapes and a few stuffed chickens, the look could have come off as corny, but instead it seems homey and appealing. And that description also fits the long menu offering straightforward, comfortably familiar Greek and Greek-American classics.

We skipped the fireworks of Chicago favorite flaming saganaki and commenced with tiganita kolokithakia: thin, delicately battered slices of fried zucchini, served with a mound of creamy skordalia, wonderfully potent garlic dip. Honestly, you could slather that stuff on a boot and make it tasty, but the rounds of summer squash set it off deliciously. I love the juxtaposition of the hot, crispy zucchini and the cold, smooth spread.

You can also have the zucchini grilled or order the skordalia on its own or in a sampler with other spreads - taramasalata (fish roe spread), melitzanosalata (eggplant salad) and tirokafteri (spicy cheese dip) - but the somewhat spongy bread accompanying the meal forms a less effective counterpart. Skordalia also comes as part of an entree with pan-fried Boston cod.

Loukaniko skaras, house-made Greek sausage, makes another excellent beginning. Lightly touched with orange zest, it's served split and grilled, three juicy sausages to an order. A cold seafood combination of diced octopus, squid, small shrimp and fish chunks with bits of carrot and celery has fine flavor in its piquant vinaigrette.

Entree choices range from steaks and chops to fresh seafood - a tempting display of whole raw sea creatures on ice greets visitors at the entrance - plus traditional Greek dishes. Among the last, Greek Village's moussaka is a nicely portioned, if under-seasoned, rendition of this usually meat-heavy dish. Made from ground beef and lamb layered with slices of eggplant, zucchini and potatoes, with a thick cap of bechamel sauce and a chewy topping of melted mizithra cheese, the moussaka arrives looking a little deconstructed in a lake of tomato sauce.

If you can't make up your mind among the traditional specialties, the Greek pikilia offers tasting portions of dolmades, spanakotiropita, roast lamb, pastichio and a meatball, with rice and oven-roasted potatoes. The dolmades, tender and flavorful ground lamb wrapped in a grape leaf and dressed in egg-lemon sauce, forms the highlight of this platter, so much so that I'd recommend you order a plateful alone if weren't that the spanakotiropita, a small portion of crispy phyllo wrapped around cheese-laced spinach, is even better. The pastichio, a cousin to lasagna made with macaroni, suffers from the same too-subtle hand with seasoning that marks the moussaka, and the lamb is a disappointingly thin slice of dry meat.

Other entrees include house-made gyros, Athenian-style chicken, kebabs, rack of lamb and grilled pork tenderloin. Daily specials offer options like baby goat oreganato and phyllo-wrapped salmon stuffed with spinach and feta. Weekday lunch specials run $8.95. Each Sunday, they roast a pig.

Classic desserts start with baklava and continue on to creme caramel, rice pudding, galaktoboureko and chocolatina. The galaktoboureko, well-flavored egg custard wrapped in phyllo and heavily dusted with cinnamon, tends to be a bit soggy. The dense slab of chocolatina, a layer cake spiked with Greek raspberry liqueur, ought to satisfy anyone's chocolate craving.

A compact list offers a mix of Greek and global wines.

Every weekend, Greek Village Taverna features live music, with belly dancer shows each second Saturday.

<p class="factboxheadblack">Greek Village Taverna</p>

<p class="News">795 E. Golf Road, Schaumburg, (847) 885-4950, <a href="http://greekvillagetaverna.net" target="new">greekvillagetaverna.net</a></p>

<p class="News"><b>Cuisine: </b>Traditional Greek</p>

<p class="News"><b>Setting:</b> Spacious, casual room designed to look like a village courtyard</p>

<p class="News"><b>Entrees:</b> $10.95 to $29.95</p>

<p class="News"><b>Hours:</b> 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 10 p.m. Sunday</p>