Flat, landlocked Indiana has little in common with the mountains and beaches and the "cradle of Western civilization" title that Greece gets to claim.

Soybean plants, not olive trees, green up our landscape. But there is this bit of unity between our city and the birthplace of democracy: "The name!" Gus Geroulis, owner of Acropolis Restaurant, pointed out enthusiastically: "Polis" is from the Greek for "city." It's not the Parthenon, but whatever.

Indianapolis didn't introduce or even host the Olympic Games, but the city does have a connection to the far-off islands in the fair number of family-run Greek restaurants dotted throughout the landscape.

Every one has a unique, robust personality and a slightly different approach to bringing the cuisine of the Hellenic Republic to the Midwest. What they share is a decided atmosphere of festivity and maybe a little bluster -- each owner states with unassailable confidence that his or her restaurant is "the best."

Here's a look at several of the most popular Greek restaurants in the city. For a more complete list of Greek restaurants, go to www.indyethnicfood.com.

Athens on 86th

Before Tina Larsen opened Athens on 86th in 2004, she helped her parents in the Greek restaurant they'd operated in Indianapolis for 20 years, moved to her parents' homeland and opened a pizza franchise, decided that life in Greece wasn't for her, and then came home to Indianapolis.

"The rest, as they say, is history," Tina said of the relatively calmer recent period in which she and her chef-husband, Arne, established Athens on 86th.

The couple's notion was to focus not on the most famous of Greek offerings, the obligatory gyros sandwich, but to instead give the menu variety -- a taste in Indiana of some of the more obscure dishes of Greece. Customers have responded, making favorites of the roasted garlic sea bass and the braised lamb shanks in egg-lemon sauce with artichoke hearts and mushrooms.

A small private room is set off by a stone wall on one side of the restaurant, and a bar fills a corner of the muraled opposite wall. Bouncy Greek music plays while diners tuck into spanikopita or souvlaki.

Dishes to try: Taramosalata, an appetizer dip of light-flavored Greek caviar spread, olive oil and lemon juice; char-grilled lamb filets; and Effie's galactobouriko, a desert of custard-filled phyllo and honey.

Santorini Greek Kitchen

Sit down for a meal at Santorini on any night, and chances are you'll be part of or near a celebration.

"This is so much more than just a restaurant," said Jeanette Sawi, who runs Santorini with her husband, Taki. (The pair met on Santorini, when Jeanette was on an archaeological bus tour and Taki waited on her in a restaurant.) "It has become a place for people to come together in good times -- and even bad times. So many lives have intertwined here."

They intertwine over a menu of homemade Greek cuisine that holds many well-known dishes and shows off Taki's touch with fish and lamb.

The room where the celebrations take place has few decorations on its white walls, but a blue glow fills the air, courtesy of the neon-blue tubing around each window. Any further decor comes from the celebrants and the dancers who move from table to table on weekend evenings.

Mondays at the restaurant mean a family-style feast for $20 and, in a separate room, discounted martinis and chair massages. According to Jeanette, "Just what people need in the winter."

Dishes to try: Fish kabobs; avgalemeno (egg and lemon soup with chicken and orzo pasta); leg of lamb, slow roasted and stuffed with garlic.

Greek Islands Restaurant

The Stergiopoulos family that runs Greek Islands is well-represented in the restaurant on any given day.

Unless she's busy in the kitchen, Angela -- the restaurant's resident chef -- and her enormous smile are out front, where you'll find her teasing her nieces or being teased by her brother, George, a substantial presence in the small dining room, in figure and in personality.

"If you walk into a Greek restaurant that's quiet, walk back out," George bellowed at me during a visit. "We're loud people, and we bring out loudness in others. People don't come here to take a nap; they come here to have a good time."

By the way, the older man at the table is Elias Stergiopoulos. He's the one who got things rolling 20 years ago.

The family's personalities fill the small dining room, and Angela's freshly prepared food fills to within a centimeter the big plates that rest on the tables. The diners behind those plates groove on the Greek music and maybe the movements of the belly dancers who entertain on weekend evenings.

Not surprisingly, lamb is a favorite at Greek Islands, the lamb chop in particular -- seasoned lightly and broiled. It's too good and fresh to tamper with, according to Angela: "We go to Chicago to get (the chops) straight from the best little farm."

Lightly battered, pan-fried calamari is another big seller, as is moussaka -- prepared "the way it's supposed to be," said Angela.

George has taken to expanding the wine list, which features Greek bottles but extends in other directions, so a glass to complement any plate is not a problem.

Dishes to try: Florinis, an appetizer of feta-stuffed roasted red peppers; Angela's latest special is the chicken phyllo wrap -- chicken breast sauteed in red wine with mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic and onions, and then wrapped in phyllo with kefalograviera cheese.

Acropolis

A short drive west on Southport Road from I-65, Acropolis muscles into view, painted in the colors of the Greek flag. Its name is displayed in large letters that nearly span the building.

Inside, Hoosier folksiness (vinyl plaid tablecloths, faux wood paneling stretching halfway up the walls) overtakes maps and photos of Greece for decor dominance. The balance flips on the menu, which does capitulate to locale with burgers, ham-and-cheese sandwiches and ice cream cake. "Food for everybody!" owner Gus Geroulis told me.

Geroulis opened the restaurant with his wife, Kathy, in 1987. She bakes the pastries and simmers the soups; he handles the meat dishes in their "nice, little, clean place."

Through saloon doors sits a small, nautical-themed bar with a selection of Greek wine and beer, and diners on either side of those doors tend to go for the gyros, Geroulis said. Except in August, when Geroulis shuts the restaurant's doors and flies back to Greece for a break.

Dishes to try: Acropolis sampler -- the most popular dish at the restaurant -- offers more than a nibble of the traditional gyros, pastichio, moussaka, dolmas, tiropita and spanakopita.

Traci Cumbay / Star Correspondant