Athens

Diporto: Time Travel Taverna

In business since 1887, Diporto – a defiantly traditional spot in downtown Athens – has no sign and no menu. The staff doesn’t speak a word of English, and you might have to share a table with eccentric old men who look like they stepped out of a folk ballad. You will probably have to mime your order or draw it on the paper tablecloth. But if you ever wondered what it would be like to eat in a working-class Greek taverna circa 1950, read on. Diporto is located smack in the middle of what is – at least by day – one of the Athens’ most fascinating areas, home to a variety of specialized marketplaces. Varvakeios, one of the few of its kind in Europe, is the city’s largest fish and meat market, in operation since 1886. Around this enormous, chaotic market, where vendors try to outdo each other in shouting, lies Athens’ traditional center of trade, with streets devoted to specific merchandise: hardware stores and bric-a-brac on Athinas Street; spices, cheeses, kitchen equipment and plants on Evripidou and Sofokleous; doorknobs on Vissis (yes, there is a street dedicated solely to doorknobs).

Athens

The Chops Shops of Downtown Athens

If there is a symbol of the adoring relationship that Greeks have with lamb, it is none other than the lamb on a spit that most Greeks in mainland Greece eat as a specialty on Easter Sunday. Greeks eat beef or pork at least once per week; lamb, however, is not an everyday thing but a treat, something more than just meat. The film My Big Fat Greek Wedding may be a never-ending fount of stereotypes, but it does get it exactly right when it comes to how Greeks view lamb. When Aunt Voula finds out that the groom Ian is a vegetarian, she says, “What do you mean, you don’t eat meat? That’s okay, that’s okay, I make lamb.”

Athens

Varsos: Nostalgia, with Cream on Top

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 coffeehouses and is the only one that has kept its traditional charm over the last several decades. Varsos was established in 1892 in central Athens, but it is the wonderfully old-fashioned Kifisia location, to which the patisserie moved in 1932, that has made the venue famous. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kifisia was a holiday destination for rich Athenians, and their stately summer mansions still dot this beautiful yet ever-expanding northern suburb, which is now popular with professionals, families and expats.

Athens

Student Special: Low Prices, High Taste in Athens' Mezedopoleia

In early September and October, Athens – just like many other cities around the world – sees an influx of young people leaving home for the first time to spend the next four years in intellectual pursuits and drinking coffee. Few among them are as concerned with what they’re eating as they are with other, seemingly more important matters, and so Greek student life is usually associated with deliveries of souvlaki, pizza and other minor domestic disasters. But for young people eating on the cheap, fast food doesn’t have to be the only option; local restaurants often offer student specials this time of year.

Athens

Spring in Athens: Full Bloom

Athens is probably at its prettiest in springtime, especially in April and May. The weather is warm, but not too warm (in the summer the city can be oppressively hot), and Athens – not normally the greenest of cities – is in beautiful full bloom. From early April onwards, the smell of the blossoming bitter orange trees that line the streets of downtown is almost intoxicating, while in May, the tall jacaranda trees on Athinas Street and in Zappeion Park look almost like they are floating in a purple-blue, orgiastic haze. The fruit and vegetable street markets – held on a different day of the week in each neighborhood in Athens – are filled with the first wonderful products of spring. Strawberries are sure to make an appearance: slightly bitter, yet highly aromatic, these early fruits of the season are small but feel like a precious gift.

Xara: Just Like in the Movies

Watching old Greek movies from the 1950s, '60s and '70s has been a rite of passage for every single generation raised in Greece from the '80s onwards. When we were young, these movies played endlessly on TV, getting us acquainted with the Greece our parents grew up in.There were a number of things that both puzzled and delighted us – chief among them, the patisserie-as-meeting-place. The heroine, wearing a pillbox hat over expertly coiffed hair, would meet her girlfriends or potential love interest in grand-looking pastry shops, where she would be served by waiters in uniforms and eat a pasta, an individual portion of dessert: soft sponge cake with almond and cream or chocolate fillings.

Athens

Remoutsiko: Suburban Meat Up

The working-class area of Brahami has never been Athens’ hottest gastronomic destination. It is a mostly residential neighborhood, halfway between the city center and the exotic beach-loving southern suburbs. Like most of the city’s suburbs, in the not-so-distant past, this area was once made up mostly of fields. Now formally named Agios Dimitrios (St. Dimitrios, after St. Dimitrios’s church), it has a vibrant local market. It’s also home to Remoutsiko, a family-owned, family-friendly taverna focusing on meat. Housed in an old converted barn, the restaurant has been around for some 30-plus years.

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Diamonds in the Touristy Rough: Makalo

The quiet neighborhood where Makalo is located, right between Syntagma and Plaka, is home to some good restaurants (such as old-fashioned Paradosiako) and even to a strip of ethnic joints located on bustling Apollonos Street. Considering the area’s proximity to some of the biggest hotels in Athens and to the ultra-touristy Plaka, however, it’s rather surprising that not many visitors have caught on to the charms of Makalo, a local hangout with a fun vibe and great Greek-style cocktails.

Athens

Dexameni: From the Womb to the Tomb

The blackboard hanging outside Dexameni’s cramped kitchen reads, “Kindergarten-Bar-Nursing Home,” the title jokingly bestowed upon the café by the eminent novelist and poet Alexandros Papadiamantis. He was among the literati who made Dexameni their regular hangout shortly after it opened in the early 1900s – so regular that the place ended up serving as a home-away-from-home for all stages of life.

Athens

Ask CB: Ouzo Does It?

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?

Athens

Pasteli: Power Bar of the Ancients

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Athens

Layover in Athens: Make the Most of 5, 10 or 24 Hours

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Athens

Nice 'n' Easy: Expat Favorites, Part 1

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Athens

Hello, Neighbors: Middle Eastern Comes to Downtown Athens

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Athens

Downtown Athens Souvlaki Classics, Part 2

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Athens

To Mavro Provato: Raising the Bar on Meze

There is something magical about the area where To Mavro Provato is located, near the rather mysterious Proskopon Square in Pagrati. The square itself, hidden behind Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue, is usually dark even in the daytime thanks to the tall shady trees that fill it.

Athens

Galaktoboureko: Custard Queen

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Athens

Galaxy and Au Revoir: Booze Cruise

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Athens

ENOA: (Not) For Members Only

Editor's note: We're sorry to report that ENOA has closed. Situated by the sea in the marina of Agios Kosmas, ENOA is part of a truly strange neighborhood. There are a couple of nightclubs, some cottages and the enormous, badly lit rowing and sailing buildings that have been left to molder after the 2004 Olympics – but mostly the feeling is of an abandoned wasteland by the sea. The entrance to ENOA, an area club, is equally unimpressive: a number of trophies cramped behind a glass display followed by a cavernous dining room that, with its harsh, unflattering neon lights, resembles a hotel from 1960s rural Greece.

Athens

Ask CB: Greece's Autumnal Dessert?

Dear Culinary Backstreets, I’ve noticed that a dish called “moustalevria” pops up in shops all over Athens in the autumn months. What is it, and where can I get it?

Athens

Pnyka: The Bread Evangelists

Dimitris Kotsaris was more proselytizer than baker. Rather than a flour-dusted apron, this mild-mannered gentleman would wear elegant suits to meet with journalists, bearing two or three kilos of his famous whole-wheat bread as a gift. He was an ardent believer in the medicinal qualities of bread and preached widely that good bread promoted good health, once even taking his case to Harvard, where he delivered a talk about the role of well-made loaves in healthy diets. In 1981 Kotsaris opened Pnyka, the pulpit from which he spread his yeasty gospel, and gave the bakery the Greek name for the hill downtown where, in the golden years of Ancient Greece, Athenians gathered for the general assemblies that played such a formative part in the creation of democracy. It is quite fitting then that the first Pnyka shop opened in Syntagma (“Constitution”) Square. The bakery has since added two more shops in the city, in Exarchia and in Pagrati, the headquarters of the operation, and its following is such that last year a third was established in Vienna. Kotsaris passed away last year but his vision lives on through his son George, who has taken over the business.

Athens

Ask CB: Child-Friendly Dining in Athens?

Dear Culinary Backstreets, My family is traveling to Athens in October. Some of our friends have told us that Athens is not very child-friendly and that the only places that cater to children are international fast food chains. Is this true? Are there any other options for those of us who do not want to eat American-style fast food?

Athens

To Triantafilo tis Nostimias: Locals Only

To Triantafilo tis Nostimias restaurant would be impossible to find if someone didn’t tell you it was there. Although just a five-minute walk from busy Syntagma Square, it is hidden in an arcade on the rather unappealing Lekka Street. Despite the central location, the downtown Athens standout remains largely unknown and is not even included in most Athenian food guides. You truly have to be a local to come here.

Athens

CB on the Road: Strofi, Piraeus’s Hidden Seafood Gem

It’s a long drive from Athens to Perama, the westernmost terminal of the port town of Piraeus, and the payoff is, at first sight, minimal. To the left is the port’s industrial zone – a forest of blue and orange cranes that tower over the sea. To the right is a stretch of industrial wasteland: old electricity plants, derelict factories, walls with enormous graffiti celebrating Piraeus’s very successful team, Olympiacos, and then a jumble of recently built high-rise buildings on a rocky hill. First populated in the 1920s by immigrants from Asia Minor, Istanbul and the Pontus (Black Sea) region, this suburb of Piraeus now has about 25,000 residents, most of whose livelihoods depend on the dockyards that have been here since the 1930s. Perama remains a proud, working-class neighborhood, and it is no accident that the early Greek hip-hop of the ’90s and the so-called Low Bap hip-hop genre and movement started here.

Athens

CB on the Road: Exploring the Mythical Port of Piraeus

Piraeus holds the distinction of being Greece’s biggest port, as well as the largest passenger port in Europe. Although it is a mere 20-minute train ride from downtown Athens, most Athenians think of Piraeus with a reverence reserved for a foreign country. There is just something almost mythic about this ancient port, which has been in existence since the 5th century B.C. – the famous opening line of Plato’s Republic is, after all, “I went down to the Piraeus yesterday.” In the modern period, the greater Piraeus area – home to a population of about half a million in Piraeus proper, along with a number of suburbs – has witnessed dizzying highs and lows, especially over the past century. The area has been a major destination for immigrants from elsewhere in Greece, including the islands and the Peloponnese. One of the biggest population expansions came after 1922, when vast numbers of Greek refugees fleeing Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) migrated to the area and established new working-class neighborhoods, including Nikaia, Keratsini, Drapetsona and Korydallos.

Athens

Ask CB: Cretan Cuisine in Athens?

Dear Culinary Backstreets, I keep hearing about the wonders of Cretan cuisine, but is it really any different from regular Greek cooking? And is there anywhere nice to try it in Athens?

Athens

Diamonds in the Touristy Rough: Plaka Dining Secrets

Editor’s note: This is the second piece in our series featuring the hidden gems in some of Athens’ most touristy neighborhoods. We previously explored Psyri; it is now time to take on the holy grail of Athenian tourism: Plaka. There’s a reason why this area of old Athens, just below the Acropolis, is the city’s most touristy neighborhood: it has a history of more than 6,000 years.

Athens

Diamonds in the Touristy Rough: Oinopoleion

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Athens

Ideal: The Institution

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Athens

Athens’ Top Street Foods

Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment in our street food series this week, featuring dispatches on the best streetside eating in all the cities Culinary Backstreets covers. Before we get down to the business of discussing the best of Athens’ street food, a disclaimer: Athens is at a disadvantage when it comes to streetside eats. For one thing, a lot of venues – souvlaki joints, pizza parlors and even offal soup places – are open all night or even 24/7; they are just not serving on the street, though.

Athens

Melilotos: The Greek Classics, Reinterpreted

Painted in hues of pistachio green, the new Melilotos is now located in the heart of Athens’ traditional shopping district on Kalamiotou Street, in a neighborhood that is well known for shops selling all sorts of wonderful fabrics and textiles by the meter.

Athens

Greek Easter Week, Dish by Dish

Forget about Christmas. In Greece, Easter is the main event, one where food, naturally, plays a starring role. It is also very much a holiday celebrated in the countryside: most Athenians go back to their villages during the holiday to be with their extended family and enjoy the Easter-related culinary delights of their home region.

Athens

The “Migrant Kitchen” Lands in Athens

The idea behind the “Migrant Kitchen” lunch series, first organized in Istanbul this fall by Istanbul Eats and Culinary Backstreets, is simple: get locals to sample the food of some of the immigrant communities living in their city and, through that experience, to learn more about those often invisible communities. In Istanbul, the series gave locals a taste of some fantastic Cameroonian, Liberian and Ethiopian delicacies.

Athens

Ask CB: Smoke-Free Athens?

Dear Culinary Backstreets, I heard from some friends that everyone smokes in restaurants in Athens, despite the fact that it is not officially permitted. What is the situation, and is there anywhere we can dine without being exposed to smoke?

Athens

Museum Quality: Dining in Athens’ Cultural Institutions

Considering Athens’ position as a top tourist destination, it may come as a surprise that it is only recently that local museums have decided to up their game when it comes to their dining offerings. Worldwide, a good restaurant and café are now considered part of the whole museum-going experience, but it took a little time for Athenian museums to catch on to that, though catch on they have.

Athens

Saladin: The Meze Conqueror

Editor’s note: We’re sorry to report that Saladin has closed. 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 Keramikos area, Saladin is a venue that does double duty, fulfilling the traditional function of the mezedopoleio while taking the food component up several notches.

Athens

Therapeftirio: Diner, Heal Thyself

The literal translation for Therapeftiriο is “sanatorium,” which in this case refers not to what this restaurant might have once been but rather to the ancient Greek belief that having a good time by eating good food and drinking good wine can cure your troubles. It’s an old-fashioned name in an old-fashioned neighborhood that is fast becoming a hipster area.

Athens

Spring (Food) Break 2013: Athens

Editor’s note: Here at Culinary Backstreets, we eagerly await the coming of spring each year, not just for the nicer weather but also because some of our favorite foods and dishes are at their best – or indeed, are only available – for a short period during this season. This post from Athens is the first installment of “Spring (Food) Break 2013,” a weeklong celebration of our favorite springtime eats. Stay tuned for dispatches from all of the Culinary Backstreets cities. Athens is probably at its prettiest in springtime, especially in April and May.

Athens

To Koutouki tou Marathoniti: Underground Chops

Mets is undeniably one of central Athens’ prettiest neighborhoods, a mostly residential area filled with a mix of neoclassical houses, Bauhaus architecture and 1960s-era buildings that is also home to the city’s historic First Cemetery. Legend has it that the neighborhood was named after a beer parlor that was in turn named after the city of Metz in northeastern France. On the periphery of Mets, hidden rather incongruously in the basement of an old building, To Koutouki tou Marathoniti is the kind of place you would never find if you didn’t know it existed.

Athens

Ask CB: The Food of Lent Monday in Greece?

Dear Culinary Backstreets, I heard that the Monday on which Lent begins is a holiday in Greece and that there are some special culinary traditions. Is this true? What do Greeks eat on this day?

Athens

To Rodi

A quiet residential area in Western Athens, the working-class suburb of Sepolia was until the 1970s characterized by a few industrial buildings, empty plots of land and small, humble houses. Over the past few decades, Sepolia has developed rapidly and is now full of high-rise apartment buildings. Though it still has a neighborhood feel, there aren’t many cafés or dining venues, which makes To Rodi – an Armenian restaurant and neighborhood souvlaki place that does some of the best kebabs in Athens – seem particularly incongruous.

Athens

Ask CB: Greek Coffee in Athens?

Dear Culinary Backstreets, I keep hearing about Greek coffee but is it any different from Turkish coffee? And do most Greeks actually drink Greek coffee these days or do they drink other types of coffee? Greek coffee is exactly the same as Turkish coffee – and it was in fact called just that in Greece until Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974, at which point, for political reasons, the Greeks decided to rename their coffee “Greek coffee.” The process and preparation, though, are identical to the Turkish way.

Athens

Athens’ New-School Wine Bars

The economic crisis that has plagued Greece for the past five years has led to changes on the Athenian culinary scene, including the opening of three new types of venues that seem to be reflective of the times. The first two – cupcake places and frozen yogurt shops – are imports from abroad, perhaps indicative of a population in need of something sweet, comforting and affordable. On the other hand, the third trend, wine bars, digs deep into Greece’s roots, representing a fascinating phenomenon in a country that is one of the world’s oldest wine-producing regions. In antiquity Greek wine was exported across the Mediterranean, and the winemaking tradition has remained strong through the millennia. Yet although there are numerous wineries around the country, in the modern era Greek wine has never achieved the place it deserves on the international market. Production levels are low and vintners have long been unsure of how to market abroad.

Athens

Red Elephant: Move Over, Souvlaki

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.