Merichka's Dressing Now For Sale; Will Garlic Butterine Be Next?

CREST HILL ? Merichka's legendary restaurant at 604 Theodore St. has been making history since opening April 18, 1933. Now, after more than 91 years of business, Merichka's has reached another milestone: the Merichka's House Dressing ? described on the bottle label as "the perfect finishing touch to any salad," will now be available at several Will County area grocery stores.

Berkot's Super Foods is stocking its grocery store shelves with Merichka's House Dressing. The salad dressing will be available for purchase by the end of this week, according to Merichka's co-manager Joe Zdralevich III.

In Illinois, Berkot's has 15 locations including stores in Braidwood, Lockport, Coal City, Manhattan, Manteno, Mokena, New Lenox, Peotone and Wilmington.

"We're finally happy people can obtain this easily if they're out of the area," Zdralevich said.

"It's a big deal for us. For 91 years, we really have not ventured out of our walls," Zdralevich remarked during Tuesday's Joliet Patch interview. "By the end of this week, it will be available at all Berkot's locations."

Zdralevich said the idea of selling the Merichka's House Salad at grocery stores has been in the works since around 2019. However, the death of his father and the worldwide pandemic put the concept on hold.

During the past year, the Merichka's House Salad project was revived, and this week marks a dawn of a new era for the longtime Joliet area restaurant.

He said that Berkot's expressed a strong willingness to carry the product in their stores from the beginning. The Merichka's House Dressing will be sold in 12 ounce bottles for $4.49. "We do make it in house still, and it's available at the restaurant," Zdralevich explained.

During a typical week of business, the restaurant makes roughly 20 gallons of the Merichka's House Dressing, and that amount increases substantially during the holidays.

Merichka's made the announcement of the salad dressing on Monday on its Facebook page, drawing thousands of reactions from long-time customers.

"I knew it would do OK," he said of the announcement. "I'm very honored and humbled by all the positive responses. It means a lot to us."

Now that Berkot's is stocking its shelves, Merichka's hopes that other Joliet area grocery stores such as Jewel and Costco will want to carry it, too. Merichka's reached out to Jewel and Costco in the past, but Berkot's was the most enthusiastic about carrying the product.

"Once word gets out, it will be easier getting into other stores. We're easing into it," Zdralevich said.

This story could not end without at least one reference to the most famous sandwich in Will County. The front label for the Merichka's House Dressing lets everyone know that Merichka's Foods is "Home of the Poorboy."

If you're wondering whether Merichka's will be bottling its famous garlic butterine sauce as its next grocery store venture, that remains a little harder to accomplish.

During a 2023 interview marking Merichka's 90th anniversary, Joliet Patch reported that the restaurant basement is the keeper to one of the great treasures of Merichka's poorboyland ?it's where the garlic butterine is sent to age for at least a few weeks. The garlic butterine is made by hand to age and fresh garlic has to be from California.

"The garlic butter, it's very finnicky," the co-manager explained during Tuesday's interview. "As of right now, this (Merichka's House Salad) is a good stepping stone. This was an easier product to get mainstreamed."

Related Joliet Patch story:

Merichka's 90th Anniversary: 'It's Hard To Find Places Like This'