Midway Airport in Chicago isn’t my favorite place in the world, but if you’re flying Southwest (which has a heart!) to the Windy City, there aren’t any other options. I found myself at Midway two weeks back and stepped off the plane with a serious appetite. MDW has offered Chicago favorites for years — RIP Superdawg — and their food court in the Main Terminal “Boulevard” (in between concourse B/C) offers everything from Chicago style hot dogs to the airport version of beloved late Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray’s steakhouse.

I wasn’t up for a char dog at Gold Coast Dogs because I refuse to pay more than $3 for a hot dog, but right next door was Pegasus on the Fly, the food court version of one of Chicago’s most well-known Greek tavernas. I’m almost always in the mood for some gyros, so that seemed like the right option. In case you’re not familiar with Greek food, gyros is a processed combination of ground lamb and beef that comes in giant meat cones that are then sliced directly off the spit into thin strips. They’re salty/meaty/wonderful.

I didn’t want to put my stomach in too much peril, though, so I was hoping to find a gyros sandwich + salad combo. The menu had a bunch of combination meals but they all came with chips or fries. I inquired about swapping out the fries for a salad, but was summarily rejected. I don’t know about you, but I find most airport establishments pretty unwilling to honor simple special requests. So much for hospitality, huh?

In any event, my eyes were drawn to the salad section of the menu where they were offering the “Gyros Village,” aka a big pile of gyros on top of a Greek salad. My mind started doing the math. If I ordered the Gyros Village, I’ve got my meat and I’ve got my salad. All I’d be missing was a pita. A quick glance to the listing of sides merited what I needed: Extra pita was only $.99. My mission was clear.

I ordered the Gyros Village and an extra pita, then made my own combination. I took the very generous portion of meat off the salad and stuffed it into the pita to make the sandwich I was craving. Now I had both a very sizable salad and an overstuffed gyros. What more could I ask for? Just a glass of water because that gyros was salllltttttttyyyyy.

All told, the make-your-own combo cost me $10.25 including tax. Not bad for full salad and a sandwich. If I had ordered one of their combos, it would have cost about the same and come with a drink, but I would have had to endure the pain of those frozen fries. My stomach was much more thankful for the salad.

When you’re dining at the airport, you may not find the flexibility you’re looking for from the employees in terms of special requests but with a little creativity, you can usually get exactly what you want.