Photography not my strong suit, but hard to take a bad picture at a place like that! Thanks, and I also look forward to hearing of your adventures!
Delphi was the other one we actually got to. The third was to take the ferry to Hydra (from Piraeus) where there was an exhibit of Kara Walker’s that my daughter was interested in seeing. Alas, she was also hell bent on keeping her journalism job hours (evening at that time EDT) that required her to work from 11 p.m. -4ish a.m. (in Greece with the time difference) so she missed much of Greece (timing of the Poseidon Temple worked well for her). My son and I didn’t feel it would be nice to go on her excursion without her (when we couldn’t rouse her at a reasonable time that morning), so we did something closer to home base Athens.
Hey, Jen, I still haven’t edited all the photos from my brief visit to Athens last month. But here are links from Culinary Backstreets (which I write for in Queens, and which organized a gathering of their writers, photographers, and guides from 17 cities around the world) of a half-dozen spots we visited:
The first of these I mentioned to you during our banh mi crawl; this was the cellar restaurant where we had, among other things, the veal and orzo. I missed out on the last place on the list, but some CB folks went back for a second visit.
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thanks Dave for your persona seals of approval. I figure if I want to go to African places you will lead me to the right ones here!
I used to work hard to get photos without people posing in them.
Now, once in a while I just snap away.
Looks like you were “walking in beauty” as the Navajo put it.
" In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again.
Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful… "
Closing Prayer of the Navajo Blessing Way Ceremony
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Should you get the itch in Athens, Jen, for African food that’s hard to find in New York, consider Au Feu du Plaisir. Unfortunately for me, I came across it when it was closed. The online menu, which includes fumbwa, chickwang, and pondu, points to proprietors from Congo-Kinshasa.
put it on my map FWIW tho its not in the area I expect to visit! Who knows whether the itch will arise after 2 weeks of Turkish dining? thanks for all of your suggestions!
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Dave, i visited Diporto and really enjoyed the food! My first two choices (lamb w orzo or beef) were not available so i got chickpea soup and canellinni (?) beans. They gave me a generous chunk of bread and i dug in. Either bowl would have been a meal by itself.
I asked for wine and got 500 ml in a big metal cup. Not great wine but rather pleasant.
Very nice meal for 15€.
The second photo shows the steps down to the taverna on the left of the corner.
Athens is always a joy!
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Returned from Greece (after two prior weeks in Turkey, so a lot of eating info to recall and process. Think I am going to mostly limit myself to the most recommendable meals we ate for purposes of reporting - eating off season and especially midweek was a challenge in some places due to restaurants not being open but overall, with local recommendations we had a very good experience.
Im going to start out with [Athens], a brief visit at the end of our trip - 5 meals 3 worthy of note here. With the ample breakfasts at our hotels we mostly skipped lunches. Our top meals here were the last two.
Karamanlidika, https://www.facebook.com/karamanlidika.gr/improbably located on Ermou, was a charcuterie/restaurant offering the cuisine of Anatolian greeks from Cappadocia and Karaman. Although I had not enjoyed basturma and sujuk in the past, the pastirma served to us here in paper thin complimentary slices, along with nicely spiced cheese cubes, was absolutely delicious
, as were the lightly and aromatically spiced braised chickpeas with pastirma,
black sea salad with roasted eggplant, tomatoes and fine fresh cheese, to which fresh herbs were added
, finally their brick oven pizza-oid “prosfournia” breads filled with tomato and feta
The subtle Spicing goes on from mild chile heat into cumin, fenugreek and other middle eastern central asian flavors, elusive and pleasing. Recommended red wine by the glass was really excellent as well, also the complimentary yogurt and candied carrot dessert. Highly recommended!! I would have loved to explore thir big menu further. very gentle pricing and gruff waitress got friendly as we settled in.
Earlier that day we had lunched lightly at I Kritihttps://www.instagram.com/kriti.restaurant/, a 40-year old Cretan family restaurant near Omonia Square. I would love to be able to cook like these folks in addition to going back and eating through their menu.
- all of our three dishes, tender and beautifully seasoned roasted goat with lemon potatoes,
braised eggplant in a complex vegetable sauce
and mushrooms and greens in egg-lemon sauce
were delicious and showed real attention to detail in the kitchen - pure home style with a polish. The eggplant dish in particular, reminded me of a perfect vegetable ragu at Hosteria Giusti in Modena many years ago, a simple dish with perfect balance of flavors. Menu (not the same every day) good for both meat eaters and vegetarians.
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To Steki Tou Ilia - Το Στέκι του Ηλία - A famous spot in the quiet Thisio neighborhood for its charcoal grilled meats, sold by the kilo, especially paidakia (lamb). Thanks @DaveCook for reinforing this recommendation! We walked in on a rainy Tuesday night, and had a warm welcome. We were not real hungy so we orderd some fava (simple warm yellow pea mash, here cooked with some garlic, and garnished with chopped onion , olive oil and lemon, and horta, boiled greens dressed with olive oil lemon
to partner our half-kilo of paidakia, which were skinny little things with lots of grease and flavor, Since we love hot lamb fat and chewing stuff off bones this was perfect for us, and very filling. Also an inexpensive meal (30 E for 3) range for us, in a friendly, mellow old taverna.
All extremely tasty and satisfying and I would be happy to return, but it is a reminder of the historic temperance, economy and restrained nature of the greeks, who are always fasting (the Great Fast of Lend had just begun) and in economic crisis . I couldnt help contrasting with the lavish chops eaten in El Chalten in December - 6 perfectly grilled, thick, succulent chops (one order, shared with companion, barely finished) cooked on a wood fired grill.
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Picked up lunch and snacks for the airport and our return at To Koulouri of Psirri a respected all night bakery famed for its kolouri - light sesame rings , snacks and sweets. The kolouri and sesame bread rolls are like a cross between a light south italian sesame bread and the turkish simit - I like both of these things and dont think the kolouri is a match for either the chewiness and intense sesame flavor of the simit or the best from south italy (or brooklyn) but it was nice. Sandwiches were made from their rolls were average and fresh, spinach and cheese pie was average, kolouri were a nice snack and sesame cookies made with, I think, grape must were the best items was the best item we had. Very nice service and the prices were definitely right (sandwiches under 2E) but not worth trekking out of the area for it, IMO.
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Ive been very lazy about completing this report. Will try to do it piecemeal. First stop was Sounion, at the southernmost tip of Attika where the great white poseidon temple stands on a headland overlooking the sea. Ilias Fish Taverna lies next to a beach below and we arrived at 1 pm on Saturday to an empty restaurant. Not to worry about the lack of a fish display, the host led us to some stainless steel drawers, which he pulled out to reveal a small selection of beautiful fish on ice, including the red mullets I was hoping for. Fish was sold by weight so we were able to choose the exact amount we wanted. Eaten fried, together with a typical greek salad, a plate of warm fava (yellow bean puree) with onions and a carafe of house white wine, followed by a complimentary lump of semolina cake (inexplicably, a major greek favorite) this was a perfect intro to Greek eating.
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Why is semolina cake “inexplicably” a Greek favorite? My mom made a great version.
I guess its a matter of personal opinion. Ive had semolina cakes and puddings elsewhere that I quite like, but this style, which I we were served on this trip on 4 or 5 occasions and also on my last visit, is in quite solid squares, cream-of-wheaty in flavor, on the dry side and and lacking in other identifiable flavoring , except a sprinkle of spice and a trifling amount of sweetening. Its pleasant but not something i would seek out. Is this the type your mom made?
No, Mom’s (and all other Greek semolina cake that I’ve tried) was drenched in an citrus-scented sugar and honey syrup, like so many other Greek pastries but thinner. Like this:
You can see the layer of syrup at the bottom of the slice in the photo.
Im looking at Vefa Alexiadou’s Pastry and Dessert book now - maybe I am mis-describing this dish as cake though its cut and served out in squares - perhaps its a semolina halvah - the texture is somewhat puddinglike though very solid., certainly a home style item. Aglaia Kremezi talks about Halvas Politikos as a simple home sweet that can be quickly prepared, a recipe is here. Pretty sure thats the item we got, the browning of the semolina is a good explanation for the flavor
I love cakes like the Ravani - you were lucky to have a Mom who made it. Thanks for challenging me!
And thanks for the family reminder, on this Greek Orthodox Easter.
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Happy Easter!!!
