Tag Results for 'near metro'

Named after a fragrant plant widely known as sweet clover, Melilotos got its start three years ago as a delivery service for the hungry Athens downtown crowd: people who didn’t want to eat junk food for lunch and instead wanted food that reminded them of their mothers’ home cooking. Continue »

The mezedopoleio – a type of venue where mezes are passed around for all to eat – is traditionally associated with students more interested in getting drunk on cheap alcohol than savoring a nice meal. But tough times require hard drinking, which means that mezedopoleia have recently made a massive comeback in Athenian life. In the historic Kerameikos area, Saladin is a venue that does double duty, fulfilling the traditional function of the mezedopoleio while taking the food component up several notches. Continue »

The first wave of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants arrived in Athens in the early 2000s, bringing a new eating culture with them. This was a time of prosperity in Greece and consequently the first South Asian restaurants, such as the now-defunct Pak Indian, were welcomed with open arms by Greeks who were willing to experiment. It helped that an enormous number of young Greeks had studied abroad in the 1990s and early 2000s, mainly in the United Kingdom, where they were introduced to the cuisine of the Subcontinent. Continue »

Dear Culinary Backstreets,
Both my husband and I are vegetarian and we are planning a trip to Athens. We’ve heard that Athens doesn’t have a lot of choices for vegetarians and are a bit worried. Will it be possible for us to eat some of that lovely Greek food? What kind of traditional vegetarian dishes would you suggest we try? Continue »

Editor’s note: This is the second installment of “Best Bites of 2012,” a roundup of our top culinary experiences over the last year. Up next is Mexico City.

Oinoscent
Greek wine has always been a bit of a hidden gem, excellent but produced in small quantities and thus more expensive when exported; as a result, it still has not gotten the international attention it deserves. Hopefully, the crop of wine bars that have recently sprung up in downtown Athens will help more people get to know Greek wines.

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While Athens’ more upscale neighborhoods have recently rediscovered the gastronomic joys – and, let’s face it, the economic sense – of eating souvlaki (such as at trendy Derlikatesen), this classic dish has never gone out of fashion in Athens’ downtown. The city’s longtime souvlaki venues may have changed little in the last 50 years, but there is something particularly satisfying about their old-fashioned, no-frills approach. With their clientele of seasoned fanatics, the best of the bunch offer a lesson in what it truly means to eat like an Athenian. Continue »

Editor’s note: This post marks the debut of our new advice column, “Ask CB,” where we give readers a chance to pick the brains of our far-flung correspondents. Got a question of your own? Write to advice@culinarybackstreets.com.

Dear Culinary Backstreets,
I am very confused regarding drinking over in Athens. Do Greeks even drink ouzo anymore? If so, when do they drink it? Also, my friends have told me something called “tsipouro” is more popular these days – what’s that drink all about? Continue »

The perfect burger, or rather the perfect American-style greasy spoon, has long been the holy grail of expats and locals in Athens. There have been a number of places that have gone after the title of the Athenian burger king over the past 30 years, usually in the affluent southern suburb of Glyfada, home to a U.S. military base in the 1980s, but none have had lasting power. The military base has been closed for some time now but the appetite for American diner-style food (the kind popularized in what have traditionally been Greek-owned diners) has not abated in the least. Continue »

A visit to Varsos, a culinary landmark in Athens that looks much the same as it did 60 years ago, is like traveling back in time to one of the city’s grand patisseries of the 1950s. The venue, which is still in the hands of the Varsos family who originally opened it, is one of the most famous of Athens’ old-style coffee houses and is the only one that has kept its traditional charm over the last several decades. Continue »

There are places that have been around so long that they’ve become emblematic of a city’s entire eating culture. In Athens, Stani (meaning “sheepfold” or “barnyard,” depending on your definition) is certainly one of them. It may have a rustic-sounding name, but this wonderful, old-fashioned dairy bar – in business since 1931 – is an urban fixture.

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