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| - Note: I forgot to jot down their exact hours of operation. They serve breakfast, so they are open in the morning. We went on an early Friday evening, and when I called, I was told they were open until 9PM.
I'll make these two caveats known immediately as they were made known to us upon entry. One half star will be deducted for each.
#1- Glenn Beck was on the telly when we sat down and was on for the duration of our pre-Bon Jovi concert meal. Apparently, whoever runs the establishment thinks that people want to eat dinner while listening to the ravings of a constipated, paranoid, bigoted right-wing culture soldier who hides in a bunker of glass.
#2-We barely got to said concert on time despite arriving at around 5PM (show started at 7:30) due to the slow, nonchalant, slightly off-kilter service.
If you can get past the two factoids above, you will find some fine Greek and American fare here, across from Cibrone Bakery (see my reviews archive) in a small, almost abandoned shopping center in quiet Castle Shannon.
For instance, consider Opa's moist, flaky, buttery and deft handling of a Mediterranean staple; the simple spinach pie which we split this as an appetizer. Kids would eat spinach more if it was served to them in this manner. The most savory, nutritious, gourmet Pop Tart ever concieved, the spinach just oozed out of it and into our mouths. Shock of all shocks; I don't even like cooked spinach! Popeye cartoons never even swayed me as a child, but wrap it in phyllo dough and I'm a phanatic for it all of a sudden.
Resisting the urge to sample a gyro, a sandwich I compulsively order ever since becoming hooked on them during an 8th grade field trip, I instead ordered the Tour of Greece. The twin stars of the ToG are Moussaka and Pastitco; two similar dishes that were new to me until the other night. Gyro meat and stuffed grape leaves second the Moussaka and Pastitco. As I tasted them, I was instantly reminded of a lasagna or a savory Napoleon. Each was a building, and my fork acted as a giant demolition claw, punching through the floors of ground meat, pasta, potato, bechamel, and eggplant, lifting them into my jaws. Why had I put off trying these two interesting ethnic dishes for so long? Both were so richly good, I became angsty over what is essentially comfort food, feeling guilty that I had chronically ignored them. Those dern gyros get all the attention I tell ya.
Will I be ordering Pastitco and Moussaka at every Greek eatery from now on instead of gyros? Time will tell.
The grape leaves were tasteful, tangy, tidy, 'n tiny packages of lamb and rice that went well coated in their a-ok tzatziki sauce as did the strips of gyro loaf.
Feeling adventurous in the starter department, I ignored the salads and went with another unfamiliar item to me in the name of Avgolemono.
It may sound like the moniker of a supervillian, but it's really a wonderfully creamy, coagulated, lemony (look at the name closely) soup with chicken to round it out and egg and orzo to bind it up. On a wintry evening, it was just the thing I needed to thaw my insides and make me feel cozy enough to ignore Glenn the Gasbag's idiocy.
Kay had the grilled salmon which she allowed me to sample, and I found it to be expertly cooked, flavorful, and brilliantly incomplex. Fish, herbal butter, a heat source, and a cooking surface. What else do you need?
For dessert we had a tag team match against some pretty divine Red Velvet cheesecake and another alien-to-me delicacy in Galactobureko. Now THAT sounds like one helluva foe, but it's really a pleasant cross between baklava, rice pudding, and a struedel. Not overly sweet or decadent, it's drizzled in honey and ended our meal splendidly.
We mentioned our evening plans to our server, and she replied "Oh, my boss is gonna be there tonight also!" Small world. I hope he or she is a bigger fan of Bon Jovi than Glenn Beck. Ugh.
I mean, I suppose I could have gotten up and changed the channel, but I would have made a scene considering that a couple was dining right under the TV.
P.S. Opa offers something called The Greek God Sandwich. That sounds like a challenge! Have at thee titan!!!
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