Dan's Papers - April 25, 2008 - Athens Gyro & Grill

John Mantzopoulos, the very dedicated chef/owner of this restaurant, offers some of the best gyros and grills in the world, but his restaurant offers so much more then that, making it an intimate and sensational place. In the past three years John has transformed the surroundings and décor of this relatively small ten-table restaurant into a very comfortable, welcoming taverna style venue where you can eat some seriously good and surprisingly affordable Greek and Mediterranean inspired cooking. On the night we ate there, he had just installed all new tables with larger tops to allow diners more room to enjoy their food, another small but telling instance of how he continually strives for improvement.

The menu is comprehensive and there are always daily specials based on the best available local produce because another major theme of John's cooking style is his emphasis on 'fresh, simple and local', which is really the way to describe truly good Greek cooking.

We started with soup, always, for me, one of the key tests of just how good a restaurant is. The lentil soup with roasted garlic was full of deep intense tastes and the texture was perfect. Chicken avgolemono soup is one of the Greek classics. Here the broth was light and fragrant with just enough lemon to bring out the full flavors and combined with beautifully cooked orzo pasta to complete another great soup. These are not just something to drink while waiting for your main course but are really beautiful dishes in their own rights.

Similarly, the Mediterranean salad with delicate baby spinach leaves, Kalamata olives, roasted red peppers and artichokes with a dressing of olive oil and vinegar was another dish to enjoy for its own style, simplicity and elegance.

For our main course we sampled some of the daily specials. Calamari usually appears on menus in its crispy fried version served with a tangy dipping sauce, but here John took some local fresh calamari, lightly grilled them over charcoal and then dressed them with a rich deep olive oil and balsamic reduction to make a delicate textured full flavored dish that made us savor every mouthful. The next dish was a bowl of salmon, shrimp, clams and scallops sautéed with olive oil, fresh basil, cinnamon and ouzo. The presentation was excellent and the blend of tastes and textures produced another great example of how simple is best, as long as you have great ingredients to start with. Finally we had the simplest and arguably the best of a great selection. When fish is exceptionally fresh all it needs is to be lightly broiled and served with a light sauce to make a great dish. This really was the case here, because the fluke melted in the mouth and the fresh lemon, capers and avgolemono sauce was a masterpiece. If you love fish and this is on the menu when you eat here, this should be a must, because it exemplifies the art of Greek cooking at its best and this is not just my judgment, but much more importantly, that of Stella, my Greek American wife, who said it made her reminisce of meals eaten at great tavernas in Greece. We also sampled a side dish of grilled beets that, with their deep earthy rustic tastes, are always a perfect complement to grilled fish dishes.

After these delights we really had no room remaining for anything other than a couple of Greek butter cookies and a cup of Greek coffee.

John has also put together a very interesting, eclectic wine list. He offers wines from all over Greece, from Macedonia to the islands of Evia and Santorini. The organic Rodito from Evia that I drank was a very crisp, full flavored white wine. I also had to try something else that was new, a wine from Israel. The Recanati Sauvignon Blanc from Shomron (Samaria) was pleasantly full of up front acidity and citrus flavors. The wines of Long Island are also well represented and all of the wines are well priced at $7 to $9 by the glass and from $20 a bottle. Appetizers range from $3.95 to $10.95 for a selection of traditional Greek mezes. Main courses range from $16.95 to $22.95 and include a choice of soup or salad and one side dish. Desserts, those delicious Greek specialties such as baklava and galactobouriko and wonderful creamy organic sheep's milk yogurt with sour cherry preserve, are from $4.75 to $5.75.

Riverhead is rapidly becoming one of those places where you can find a range of affordable restaurants offering excellent truly ethnic cuisine, and at Athens Gyro & Grill John Mantzopoulos carries the flag for his native Greece with great style. Mediterranean cuisine is regularly cited by the medical profession as being healthy so here you can eat well, enjoy everything and not feel guilty for a change.