FINALLY made it to the Lincroft location before seeing Pat Metheny at the Count Basie tonight. Folks, this is where you want to eat when you’re going to a show–not at the many mediocre spots in RB! For starters, it’s 1.5 miles down Newman Springs Road west of the GSP. Couldn’t be easier, imo. Parking is easy, and the food just makes me so happy, I can honestly say I’m now in trouble as I come south down the Parkway on my way home…
For those who haven’t read this entire thread, I’ve been going to the Stamna location in Bloomfield (on the Montclair border) for many years. I moved down the shore 1.5 years ago (!) and I can honestly say that Stamna is the restaurant I’ve missed the most. It was my go-to for dates, for weeknight dinners with friends, summer meals outside, and even for birthday lunches and dinners (some in their back room, some just big tables of friends). So I sort of freaked out when they announced they were coming down this way! I’m embarrassed to say it took me this long to get there, but now that I have…
We had all of my favorite mezze, which is my preferred way to eat at Stamna. Small Greek salad (enough for the 3 of us), loukanikos (sausage that’s simply fantastic), gigantes (the best beans you’ll ever have–creamy goodness in tomato sauce), grilled octopus, imam (eggplant–at the request of one of my friends), and a side of their lemon potatoes. We passed on dessert but were brought a plate of the Greek version of fried dough in syrup and cinnamon on the house. It was exactly what we needed, although I loooove their Galaktoboureko, which is phyllo dough filled with custard and worth EVERY calorie. 
It was the perfect amount of food for the three of us (we left full but not uncomfortable), along with a bottle of wine (they’re BYO, which is why they don’t serve mediocre food!). I can’t stress how terrific this place is, so if you’ve been meaning to try, PLEASE GO! It wasn’t nearly as busy as I would hope on a Sunday night, but there were also a couple of big football games on today. Still, there was one very large party + a few other tables while we were there.
I’m going to start a separate thread to plan a HOdown, as I feel a personal need to expose more HOs to the wonders of legit Greek food. I got hooked thanks to their other location, so I’d love to do the same for some of you!
