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

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Mountain Chic- Dining with Zeus, and Drinking Perfect Espressos

We are just into our first course at Gastrodromio- basically, bean soup and some anchovies- when someone says "Why is this guy not in a big city? This restaurant would be huge in a big city." 

This is what I like about Litohoro- laid-back self-confidence. You want huge? Mount Olympus is right outside the restaurant's door- three blocks up on your left- you can't miss it. Our chef- Andreas Gavris- is interested in great, not huge. He's also interested in authenticity, and terroir. He makes elegant meal - three savory courses, dessert. They're beautiful but not fussy, inventive but not gimmicky. We taste the Greek pantry afresh. The menu describes the courses in detail. 

Our menu, my notebook with notes on Dion and on the wines we are enjoying.

The are all made of conspicuously, almost aggressively modest ingredients. That in itself is supremely elegant- in the midst of an economic crisis, and a refugee crisis, showing reverence for basic things shows taste, grace, and gratitude. The very simplicity of the ingredients lets us be aware of the luxury of not going hungry. But there is nothing modest about this meal (incidentally, it is a Louis Vuitton city guide selection).

Our table is plentiful, festive, playful. The first course- the humblest of soups, and the humblest of fish, re-imagined. Greek-style white bean soup veloute, and marinated fresh anchovies (boquerones), a dab of melizanosalata (a Greek babaganoush) on the side. The bean soup has a meaningful context- it is the classic meal served to hikers at the mountain lodges as they make their way up Mt. Olympus.

These are perfect together- hot/cold, creamy/crisp, bland/piquant. Pulses here are classically paired with smoked or pickled fish and pickled vegetables as a condiment. Not usually fresh anchovy though. At a couple euroes a kilo, they are cheaper than good white beans. I know- we fry them every Monday, market day in my neighborhood, to have the cheapest and tastiest protein of the week. We eat the bones, if they're small enough. The house cured ones here are like velvet with some bite- silky plenty of verve.

Our second course is a cabbage roll with mushrooms rather than meat, and cracked wheat rather than the traditional rice. Saffron in the avgolemono sauce is an upscale touch, but it's local- from a couple of counties over. I'm writing fast, but we're eating slow, vintners stopping by, some of us table hopping for a chat about the wines, all local, all lovely- the vintners too.

At this chic French pace, our main course eventually comes, and I'm telling you, it doesn't sound like much- Gida (old goat- like mutton but from a goat) over trahana (a sort of pasta of rustic grain and fermented milk). Well anyway the seventy or so of us- three glasses of wine into a convivial afternoon- fall silent at least for a moment. This is the richest, most tender, toothsome and satisfying dish- subtle, delicate, earthy, sophisticated. The thing about goat- if you haven't eaten it you might not know- it's got to graze- it eats wild things, and it tastes of wild things. It climbs rocks and builds muscles, and texture. It commands respect, and makes you grateful you're a carnivore. The dish is napped with melted butter, seasoned with smoked paprika, underscoring the richness, giving the gaminess finesse.

The trahana has a bite that yields- creamy and gentle with some personality and like you always hope a risotto will be but almost never is. This is the most delicious meat course I can ever remember having.

Dessert is beautiful- 

The same theme- a fresh view of the simplest things. A semolina pudding on a toast of tsoureki (like challah) jammy syrup fruits that are part of every traditional Greek pantry, some edible blossoms.

We're at the table until the shadows outside the window grow long Litohoro has an unusual arrangement- the main street, which runs straight into Mt. Olympus itself, is lined on the left with cafes and restaurants and on the right beautiful parks and green fields, no buildings but for the town hall. All the open charm of country, and much of the charm of cosmopolitan life. Lefteri, our host from the Chamber of Pieria, invites a small group of us to taste a little more of it- down the street, his friend is having an art exhibition. 

We come to Cafe Liagas. It's elegant without trying. This small mountain village captures the essence of urban chic- not seeking to impress, or be impressed- just having things be their authentic best because they like them that way. We drink the best espresso outside of Rome- a scalding hot demi-tasse just half-way full with a thick head of foam, share bites of a perfect rich fluffy definitely not modern chocolate pastry, and look at the original prints on the walls. 

Vangelis Liagas has great taste- apart from the original art, the sole decoration is a vintage mirror advertising the chocolate everyone grew up eating. 

Greece has a genre of sweets called "pastakia"- "pasta" is pastry, "aki" is a suffix that means small. There are lots of different kinds- the best ones being like a Little Debbie's cake, but handmade with fresh ingredients- a chocolate shell that cracks a tender yielding cake and fluffy cream filling. We have them at baptisms all the time. Liagas' are beguiling in their refrigerator case (vintage like the mirror), and I get a box to take home- we don't have any this elegant in the city.

Pieria- region of Mt. Olympus and Dion- is just south of Thessaloniki- it is easily reached by bus or train, and close enough that I would go for dinner if I were driving (45 min?). Katerini is the capital and Litohoro is the chic village at the mountain's base. This site is very useful for planning a visit:

http://visitpieria.gr/english.html

Travel Bloggers Greece and I were guests of the Chamber of Pieria. My enthusiasm is my own- it is a region rich in every delight of Greece.

More pleasures of Pieria-

A Tasting of Delicious Wines 
at the Rustic Kourtis Winery

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