Best Food Experiences in Greece- A Dining Journal from 2016

It's very hard to get a bad meal in Greece; I didn't have a single one all year. The bar is high. But these meals were memorable- elegant or simple, they were marked by something personal and authentic.

Lobster Macaroni, in a wet bathing suit, on a day trip from Eumelia to Limeni, Peloponnese

I'm willing to bet that pretty much anything tastes great after a swim in the clearest cool waters of the most dramatic cove the Mediterranean has to offer, and also that pasta with lobster would be delicious in a basement in Cleveland. But having it while still wearing a damp bathing suit, in the shade, overlooking the sea, and drinking chilled white wine with people you really like, is the very essence of Greece.

Anything at Chez Violette, Exarchia, Athens

My first meal of the year was a New Year's Eve dinner with my mother and younger daughter at Chez Violette- a restaurant so warm and so real it is the essence of a Greek experience. What did we have? I really don't remember, and also who cares? Everything is always delicious but they are so charming and welcoming that the perfect onion soup gratin or salad with warm chevre is besides the point. That meal set the tone for the year.

French fries, Archangel, Almopia

"Mountain Potatoes, Archangel"

After a hike and a visit to a monastery in beautiful high altitude Archangel, our hosts in Almopeia brought us to the taverna in the town square. We warmed our hands over the wood burning stove, drank red wine, and ate french fries that were so good we asked if the guy they bought the potatoes from would sell us a sack. He came back and we bought some.

Galatopita, Mana's Kouzina Kouzina, Athens

Mana's Kouzina Kouzina opens onto everyone's favorite square in Athens- Agia Irini. It's also a crossroads of cuisine- traditional recipes from all over Greece are revived from obscurity. Better still, they are made with ingredients sourced from small and medium Greek producers. It'a all authenticity here, free of mutinational blah. Try bold all natural Greek made sodas that put Orangina to shame, or better yet a Greek craft beer picked by beer sommelier Giannis. Why have the galatopita, a milky sweet nourishing custard in a shell? Because of the recipe- according to chef Dimitris, "It's just milk, and a little love."

Goat with trahana, Gastrodromio, Litohoro

Fairly famous, Louis Vuitton-guide-endorsed chef Andreas Gavris impressed us with an imaginative menu of modesty- beans, anchovies, inexpensive cuts of meat served over pasta's humble cousin- trahana. Amidst an economic crisis and an influx of over half a million refugees, a menu free of ostentation was in supremely good taste, and one of the year's most elegant in every regard.

Ouzo with Mezze, Maria's cafe, Asomatos, Lesvos

Lesvos was the trip of the year. We visited many places, but we somehow felt like we lived in Asomatos, even if just for an hour or two. At Maria and Stratos' cafe, we had ouzo and koromila, beets, olives, and cheeses, one- rich and crumbling- was made by Stratos' mother, from her own sheep. She was radiant.

"Olives" at Point α, Athens

You can't get a better view of the Acropolis. But the centerpiece- olive branches by a jeweler- draws a second glance. The olives are not metal though- they look almost velvety. "Take one" Jenny our hostess says. It's not velvet- it's frost! A layer of green olive oil sorbet coats my mouth, then there's a rich, savory olive ice cream I enjoy for a moment longer. It's served with rustic whole wheat bread, like you would have if you were eating under a plane tree at your aunt's house if your aunt were from a village in Crete with a wood burning oven. Not such a fanciful analogy- the team of two chefs are from Crete. At the core of the fantasy at a dinner at Point α, there is pure, beautiful truth.

Chez Violette
Kalidromiou 69, Athens 
210 384 5974

Manna's Kouzina Kouuzina

Ailolou 27, Athens
210 325 2335

Gastrodromiou 
Ag. Nikolao 36, Litochoro
23520 21300

Point α

Rovertou Galli 4, Athens

210 923 6832