Family Chow Hall

It’s all Greek to Me! and Tzatziki Dip

June 13th, 2006

Living near one of our great nation’s largest cities has its benefits and drawbacks. I won’t talk about the drawbacks.

One of the benefits is the extremely diverse cultural community. As this applies to dining — we can get just about any kind of food we want around here. I’m not just talking Mexican, Chinese, Italian, and Burgers. I’m talking Japanese, Vietnamese, German, Swiss, Tex-Mex, Barbecue (a culture in itself), Sushi, Cajun, Indian… I could go on and on.

Last weekend we – on a friend’s recommendation – tried a Greek cafe downtown. Pat had brought some of my hummus to work one day and was told he ought to go try the hummus at Niko Niko’s. Karen passed a menu on to us and after looking at it we decided to give Niko Niko’s a try.

Now we’re not usually big on eating out, but since I have absolutely no clue how to make Greek food, what it should look like, or even what it should taste like when it’s done, we thought it would be fun and educational to expand the cultural borders of our taste buds.

Niko Niko’s was not just a restaurant, it was an experience (at least to us.) The customers (wide variety) come in, pick up a menu if they need to, and then order at the counter when they are ready. This took us a couple of minutes and all the while the cooks are yelling out numbers and the gals taking orders are shouting, “Next customer!”

We thought we had decided what to order, then nervously approached the counter. At the last minute, hubby asked what she recommended if we’d never been there. She made a couple of suggestions, including the Gyros (pronounced Yee-ros with a slight rolling of the r, I’d always wondered what the correct pronunciation was) and the Greek sampler platter.

So we ordered the sampler plus hubby ordered a calamari appetizer and we shared the salad that came with our dinner. The sampler turned out to be two platefuls of food that I cannot pronounce, spell, or even remember the names of.

After ordering, you get your own drink and sit down until the cook shouts your number, then you jump up and go fetch your food. We didn’t have to wait very long, our meal was ready just after we finished our salad and appetizer.

Here’s a little description of what we got to try:

A pastry of philo dough with feta cheese inside
A pastry of philo dough with spinach and feta inside
grape leaves wrapped around a rice stuffing – served cold
lasagna-type dish that has a custard-like sauce on top
another lasagna dish with eggplant (mousaka)
Greek meatballs
Gyros
fresh pitas and sauce

We both really loved the pastries made with philo dough and the gyros. I’ve always thought a gyro was a sandwich made in a pita, but it (at least at Niko Niko’s) was the meat that is usually served in a pita. The meat is a mixture of beef and lamb, seasoned and pressed together, similar to meatloaf or bologna. When served, it is sliced into ribbons. Then you can make a sandwich with your pita, onions, tomatoes, and a sauce that is made from cucumbers, sour cream, garlic, and yogurt. The gyros meat was very good. I also really liked the meatballs, which were very crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Over all, we had a very yummy dinner together. I’m not sure I’m ambitious enough to try cooking much of this myself. I’ll let you know if I change my mind.

The sauce they serve with gyros is simple to make:

Tzatziki

1 cucumber
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. yogurt
1 t. mined garlic
1/4 t. dill
1 t. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Start by peeling and chopping the cucumber. (You can cut it lengthwise and remove the seeds if you like.) Then simply combine the chopped cucumber with everything else and chill for an hour or more before serving. This goes well on salads, sandwiches, or as a dip for veggies or crackers

Entry Filed under: Condiments, Mixed bag, Table talk