Saloniki Is Headed for Cambridge This Fall

The Big Papi sandwich, a new menu item at Saloniki. / Photo by Ken Rivard

Restauranteur Jody Adams (Porto, Trade) has offered various paths toward tzatziki salvation since opening the sleek, Greek Saloniki in Fenway earlier this year. Come November, fans can load up their own personal pita wraps and rice bowls across the river: the team will open the second Saloniki location in Cambridge this fall, the Boston Globe first reported.

Adams and partners Eric Papachristos and Jonathan Mendez have made no secret of a desire to expand the fast casual brand. “In due time, we’d like to look at location No. 2 and see where it takes us,” Papachristos previously told Boston.

Saloniki Cambridge will be located at 181 Massachusetts Ave., next to the Novartis building in Central Square. Saloniki will also begin accommodating online ordering this fall, which means you can build your pita creations through its website and soon, a mobile app, Eater reported.

There’s another fast-casual gyro shop in the works: Gre.Co is slated for a fall debut on Newbury Street. It’s the latest from Demetri Tsolakis of Committee, with snackable loukoumades, or honey-dipped fried dough balls, and locally-sourced gyros, the Globe reported this summer.

To sate your Greek needs until November, the original Saloniki just debuted loukoumades, too, with either Nutella spread or honey glaze, and a new protein option. Loukaniko is a pork-based sausage brightened with fennel seeds, white wine, and orange peel. You can put the sausage in a bowl, salad, or on your own special wrap, but it also inspired a new signature sandwich, appropriately named to mark David Ortiz’s final season. The Big Papi features grilled loukaniko, feta, spicy pickled slaw, roasted red pepper-sesame, and optional fixings like tomato and onion.

In case you’re curious (we were), neither Ortiz nor any other Red Sox players have visited the Fenway sandwich shop yet, to Mendez’s knowledge, but he is aware that Saloniki fare has made it to the Clubhouse. The Big Papi sandwich is a permanent addition to the Saloniki menu, so there’s plenty of time for the slugger to try his newest namesake lunch.

Saloniki, 181 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, salonikigreek.com.