As the long-time chef de cuisine at Kokkari Estiatorio, a renowned Greek fine-dining restaurant in San Francisco, Luis Moreno had built culinary cred and deep experience with the fresh ingredients and techniques characteristic of that cuisine.
His biggest challenge when he joined San Jose, California-based Nick the Greek last year? Applying those high standards to an 85-unit franchised fast casual.
“One of the first things the team asked me was ‘can you create a steak bowl that honors the brand’s Greek roots,’” said Moreno.
Steak is trending in fast casuals, as consumers seek high-quality proteins to enhance the salads and bowls popular in that segment. Chains including Sweetgreen, Cava, Noodles & Company, Dig and a number of others have recently added steak to the menu, and Nick the Greek was ready to jump on the trend.
The Mediterranean Steak Bowl makes its debut
Moreno’s first step was finding the best steak cut for what developed into the menu’s Mediterranean Steak Bowl. “I went to different companies and tried several different cuts, but was looking for one that could be cooked to medium and remain juicy and soft, to simplify it for the franchisees,” said Moreno.
Flat-iron, ribeye and New York strip “left the least room for error,” he said, and skirt steak was not the right texture and didn’t work well on skewers. But a teres major cut similar to filet mignon produced the desired results.
Known as the “shoulder tender” or “petite tender,” this affordable steak cut is grilled in cubes on skewers, with 4½ to 5 ounces going into each bowl. Another benefit—“you don’t need a steak knife to eat it,” said Moreno, a utensil that was necessary with some of the other cuts.
Chef Moreno tried several steak cuts before making his choice of teres major, similar in texture to filet mignon.
To round out the steak portion of the bowl, Moreno first took a look at ingredients already in Nick the Greek’s pantry. “I really wanted to put a new face on this dish, and 90% of the ingredients are new,” said the chef. And although he didn’t want to stray far from the fast casual’s Greek roots, he did want to bring in other Mediterranean flavors and push the boundaries a bit.
Toum, an authentic Lebanese garlic sauce, is one of those flavors, “something that’s not that well known in the United States,” Moreno said. Harissa, an ingredient from the North African part of the Mediterranean, adds spicy notes.
He also created an herbaceous chimichurri sauce—not necessarily Mediterranean but similar in flavor profile to several Greek preparations. It’s a blend of garlic, parsley, lemon and olive oil that’s tossed with steak as it comes off the grill. “We’ll be able to cross-utilize the chimichurri in other dishes,” he said. “It can be thinned and used as a dressing on salads.”
On the vegetable side, Moreno brought in cucumbers, grape tomatoes and fresh kale. “We usually use Roma tomatoes, so we had to train the teams on preparing these smaller ones,” he said.
In total, the new Mediterranean Steak Bowl features flame-grilled steak tossed in a chimichurri sauce, kale tossed in a red wine vinaigrette, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, pickled onions, fried chickpeas, creamy hummus, toum and harissa; it’s priced starting at $17.95.
What’s next
Once the Mediterranean Steak Bowl hit the menu in early Spring, two new salads followed in May.
The Tahini Crunch salad cross-utilizes a number of ingredients from the Mediterranean Steak Bowl.
Tahini Crunch is a mix of romaine and kale tossed in a creamy tahini dressing, with Persian cucumbers, grape tomatoes and pickled onions, finished with harissa, chimichurri, hummus, fried chickpeas, pita crunch, pepperoncini and fresh basil. The Chopped salad features romaine, grape tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, green bell peppers and pickled onions, complemented by chickpeas, Kalamata olives, feta, lemon zest dressing, pita chips and green onions. Both cross-utilize many of the ingredients Moreno introduced for the steak bowl.
Soon to come this summer is Pistachio Cream “Dubai Chocolate” Froyo, a frozen yogurt treat inspired by the flavors in the Dubai Chocolate Bar, a viral sensation on TikTok. The bar is filled with a creamy paste made from pistachios, tahini and shredded filo strands.
Come Fall, Moreno is playing with the Levantine spice blend za-atar, pushing more Mediterranean boundaries for Nick the Greek. “It’s up to us to innovate to keep up with the competition,” he said.