Dining Out in Athens : Greek Food Beyond the Tourist Fare

“Breaking plates and glasses and dancing is strictly for the tourists,” emphasized American expatriate Catherine Vanderpool as we sat in the warm night air beside the ancient harbor of Microlimano at Athens’ port of Piraeus.

We had come to the Black Goat, a favorite with Athenians who come to eat merida and kalamarakia tiganita washed down with white wines and mineral water.

The stereotypes associated with Greek dining in the United States fall quickly in the face of the real thing. True, moussaka is usually available, and stuffed vine leaves are served in various forms. But ouzo and retsina are out, in favor of Scotch and local wines, and the variety of food, especially seafood, makes dining in Greece an adventure.

Merida , for instance, are small fish like whitebait, about two inches long, that are deep-fried and eaten whole. Kalamarakia are tiny fried squid served with slices of fresh lime. They are two of the most popular appetizers in the waterfront tavernas.

Mediterranean Custom

Dinner in Athens is a late evening custom shared by other Mediterranean cultures and seldom begins before 9:30. At the Black Goat the crowd, dressed in casual clothes, did not begin arriving till after 10 p.m. about the time that buses filled with tour groups were leaving the large tavernas down the road and heading back to the hotels.

We were left in the quiet with sounds of laughter and the strains of a guitar from another table to contemplate the autumn moon rising above the bay. Women were selling fresh gardenias, and after ordering a first course of merida from the waiter, we went across the road and into the kitchen to choose the rest of our dinner.

“Greek waiters don’t like to stand at the table and recite the menu the way they do in New York,” said Catherine, who has lived in Athens for 13 years. “They get bored and will invite you to get up and come into the kitchen.”

So with Catherine’s help we selected items for dinner from the variety of fresh fish displayed by the chef. We chose shrimp saganaki , sauteed with tomatoes and fresh feta cheese; tsipoura , baked sea bass stuffed with squid; taramosalata , a fresh briny fish roe mixed with potatoes and lemon, and another baked fish, this time with the skin rubbed with oil and cloves of garlic.

A Simple Dessert

We had slices of perfectly ripe melon for dessert. The whole evening cost about $8 per person including a tip to the waiter of 10% above the service charge (a custom).

During our stay in Athens we discovered a variety of restaurants and tavernas that, without fail, welcomed our efforts to communicate a few words of Greek, and without much difficulty we mastered the technique of eating out in Greece.

Myrtia is considered by residents to be the most consistently good restaurant in Athens. It’s in an exclusive area of the city about 10 minutes from the Hilton International. Tables covered in blue-and-white cloths are set beneath grape arbors in the open-air courtyard, and musicians play in the moonlight.

The best choice is the prix fixe dinner with almost endless courses. The appetizers, or mezedes , included fried mussels; huge prawns in a tomato sauce; tyropitakia , cheese wrapped in filo dough; keftedes , or meatballs, and stuffed peppers.

A delicate moussaka preceded the main course of charcoal grilled lamb and pork, or souvlaki , served with potatoes and a traditional Greek salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese and olives. Cruets of oil and vinegar were served on the side for personal mixing. Many Greeks add only a little vinegar.

Dessert consisted of sweet black grapes and ripe melon slices, including a “yellow melon,” which has a bright yellow skin. Dinner at Myrtia cost around $9.

A Big Lunch

Greeks traditionally skip breakfast to have a sesame roll and coffee about 10 in the morning. Lunch is a big affair, and many head for tavernas.

Across from the entrance to the Agora on the edges of the Plaka, or old section of Athens, we met Stephen Miller, director of the American School for Classical Studies, at a little taverna called the Epirus restaurant.

“All the archeologists eat here,” he told us. “We think it sits on the spot of the Painted Stoa where Socrates taught. Eventually we will tear it down to dig underneath.”

We began with a cold salad of mountain greens cooked in olive oil, followed by a light moussaka made with potatoes, rice with meatballs and garlic, cold zucchini with olive oil dressing, and meschari me kritharakia , roast veal in tomato sauce with a rice-shaped pasta. The total came to about $3 per peron.

Sidewalk cafes are popular among residents for mid-morning and afternoon coffee and snacks. Greek coffee is quite strong, but can be ordered with varying degrees of sugar and even with milk and ice.

We especially enjoyed the cafes around Kolonaki Square, up the hill from the Benaki Museum. It’s an area of exclusive shops and apartments. We recommend the cafe Nea Lykourissi. No one will rush you, and you can spend as much time as you wish reading or watching the passing scene. Figure about $2 per person for coffee and pastry.

Art and Cooking Showcase

The Greek owners of the Athens Inter-Continental have made the hotel a showcase for Greek contemporary art and regional Greek cooking. During a Macedonian Food Festival at the hotel the whitewashed walls of the Taverna had been decorated with folk art, and musicians played Macedonian music on traditional instruments.

Dancers performed folk dances in costumes of the region, and the food kept coming in staggering variety and abundance.

We ate katsamakis , leek and corn pudding; tsigerosarmades , stuffed lamb; lahanosarmades , stuffed cabbage; fissikia , stuffed leeks; souglitses , spicy little meatballs in tomato sauce, and the most heavenly dessert we sampled in our entire stay, a round cake so light that it quivered. It had been soaked in syrup and covered with pistachio nuts and was accompanied by strong Greek coffee and platters of fresh figs and dates. It all cost less than $15 each.

According to a Greek friend who was with us, most of these dishes are seldom served in modern Greece. The stuffed leeks alone take almost a day to prepare, and the entire meal would have taken about a week for the women of a village to make for a celebration. Throughout the year the hotel hosts regional festivals that feature the food of such areas as Crete and Corfu, in an effort to revive traditional dishes.

Names and Addresses

Recommended: Myrtia, Markou Mousouron, 35 Mets, phone 701-2276. The Black Goat, Akti Alex, Koumoundourou 64, Mikrolimano, phone 41-27-626. Corfu, 6 Kriezotu, phone 361-3011. O Platanos, 4 Diogenous, Plaka. phone 322-0666, very old taverna in Plaka. Epirus, Filipou across from the Agora entrance, easy to find and the location makes it a good stop for lunch.

G.B. Corner, Grande Bretagne Hotel, Syntagma Square, phone 323-0251, if the urge for continental food becomes too great, plus some Greek dishes. Rouga, 7 Kapsali, Kolonaki Square, a small taverna open only at night. Gerofinikas, 10 Pindarou, phone 362-2719, an elegant restaurant near Syntagma Square. Hotel Athenaeum Inter-Continental, Taverna, 83-93 Syngrou Ave., phone 902-3666, regional Greek specialties.