Summerlicious Part Two: A Little Greek in Little Greece

Sunday afternoon, after an unsuccessful attempt at open-house viewing on the Danforth (apparently all real estate agents are avid soccer fans), mama, TS and I settled in at Ouzeri for an early Greek dinner/lunch. Being both starving and deprived of an authentic Greek meal since we have been separated by a city from our Greek family friends, I was extra excited for this meal. We all were, actually, mama had been talking about her excitement for moussaka (and reminiscing fam-friend Paola's rendition of it) all week.

For starters, Mama got the classical Greek Salad: tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, lettuce, onion...all topped with quite a spectacular feta cheese. This was not your grocery feta--much softer and not as salty. My naivety has me convinced it's shipped here straight from the mother land (especially since the salt and bottled water are products of Greece, too)

I meant to ask our server where it was supplied from, but my overwhelming hunger pangs were telling me to just shut up and eat.

TS and I both opted for the Artichoke Lemonata. It almost felt as though we were eating a pasta dish. We both agreed that the artichokes had a noodle-y texture. The egg-lemon and dill sauce was fantastic..but only if you are a big fan of lemon and dill as both these flavours were equally intense in the dish.

We all went separate ways when it came to entree selection. Can you guess what Mama had?

If you picked Moussaka, you win the prize. It's almost like a Greek version of lasagna, or Sheppard's Pie (two dishes close to Mama's heart): layered spiced ground beef, eggplant, zucchini topped with béchamel sauce and mashed potatoes. She claimed to taste a spice she couldn't quite put her finger on, that she wasn't too crazy about. I couldn't taste it, but TS could. (She was happy, but said it didn't compare to Paula's version, which is slightly different, with sliced potatoes dispersed throughout the layers)

 TS took the vegetarian route with the Spanakopita: spinach, feta cheese, leeks baked in buttery filo pastry. Cooked veggies, salty cheese and crusty bread (essentially)...can you go wrong? Well, they definitely didn't. It was delicious.

I tried the Lamb Rosemary Pie, which as a dish, is new to me, but ingredient-wise, they all rank in most-used-and-loved for me (except for the lamb...red meat is not a regular visitor to my palate). Everyone agreed my dish was their favorite--it had the most "pop" as Mama put it. It was a lamb shank pie, with feta cheese, rosemary and mushroom sauce, obviously wrapped in butter filo. My plate was bare crumb-less by the end.

All the dishes came with a side of lemon potatoes, which were amazing (not too lemony, skin-on for that extra flavour), and pilaf. We found it odd that we got two starches with our meal and would have preferred a veggie selection (skip the rice though, and save the potatoes).

Feeling a lot more stuffed than last night, I almost forgot dessert was coming. Mama and TS both opted for a traditional Greek dense pressed yogurt, Yiaourti, topped with honey, roasted walnuts and cinnamon. I've never had pressed yogurt, so I was surprised by the heaviness of the dish, it almost tasted cheesy to me (at least in texture). It was tasty, but with a full stomach, I was happy I didn't go that route.

I, instead, chose the Bailey's Creme Caramel. Although I could not taste the Bailey's (sigh), it was still the better choice. Light and silky, cool and refreshing...I had no problem sliding it all right off the plate, and into my mouth.

Two for two at this year's Summerlicious. We all left quite satisfied, but stuffed. In an attempt to burn off even a minor amount of calories, we went out in search of a Greek bakery selling some baklava only to be disappointed with an unsuccessful outcome. Instead, we decided to make plans to embark on another Summerlicious adventure (of ethnic choice, of course) for closing weekend.

 I'm already doing research...what's your favorite type of food? Do you have any Summerlicious picks this year?

Dare I? Summerlicious 2010: Part One: Middle Eastern Fun

Summerlicious started this weekend in Toronto, and despite being warned by several fellow foodies that it would be in my best interest to avoid any restaurant participating, I decided to try my luck. So I booked  two reservations. Since my bank account has been less than cooperative this past little while, I figured, why not take advantage? I've been reading a lot of books by chefs and food critics lately--currently I'm working my way through The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner  by Jay Rayner and my cravings for something exotic have been extra ravenous. I ended up going for Middle Eastern at Tabule on Saturday evening and Greek on Sunday afternoon at Ouzeri (as a result of an already-planned trip to the Danforth)--two cuisines that my dinner plate is graced with rarely.

I must say that I was thrilled with the outcome of both my experiences. The service was not as bad as I was told it would be--although it was opening weekend and I'm sure that the servers had not had sufficient time to hate the world just yet.

My choice to go to Tabule was based on some spectacular reviews I read online. I was comforted immediately upon arrival, when the diners behind me were discussing how great the food was, as they too, waited to be seated. I interrupted to ask for their advice on which dish to pick, and they reassured me even more, not only by telling me that everything was tasty, but also adding in that they were Lebanese, and so probably tougher critics than most. Our server was not exactly the quickest at getting our drinks to the table, or coming back to take our order, but I didn't mind: for one, I'm a server, so I always tend to give them the benefit of the doubt, I understand that as a human being we are incapable of being a million places at once; and on top of it, I was enjoying the beautiful weather on the patio and was in no rush for the night, or the meal, to be over. She was more than friendly, informative and sympathetic to our lack of knowledge concerning Middle Eastern food--especially since I could not pronounce any of the menu items without looking like an blubbering idiot.

We started with the Combination Plate of humüs, babaganüj, tabülè and falafel which came with some tasty warm pita bread. I realized we missed the point afterwards, as I  watched a young boy at a neighbouring table open the pita and stuff it right up before indulging (I had simply ripped pieces of the bread to dip it). I had tried everything before, except for the tabülè, which we both found extremely tasty and refreshing.


We also shared the Kubbeh-cracked wheat shell stuffed with ground lamb and beef, onions and pine nuts which was my favorite of the appetizers, especially enjoyed with a dab of the garlic yogurt sauce (or a slathering mixture of every dip...)

For mains we had the Kefta Banadura, which was a combo of lamb and pork served in a tasty tomato stew with fresh pink onions, and the lemon garlic Salmon kebab.

I, being the seafood lover I am, preferred the salmon (don't get me wrong, the Kefta Banadura was great too).

 My BF, GF, being the meat lover he is, preferred the Kefta. So instead of sharing, like we usually do, we stuck to our own dish, which I was completely content with.

I must say that one of my favorite parts of both dishes were their accompanments: the charcoal grilled veggies and rice. The vegetables were grilled to perfection. One of my favorite flavours, ever, is the taste of crispy black skinned red peppers. They immediately bring back memories of Daddio bbqing at our house on Flushing, with the Spalding umbrella of course, as he was cursed with rain every. time. he went out there.The grilled zucchini, yellow peppers and fried onions were amazing too. The perfect forkful came as a result of a combination of all the veggies, a dab of the delicious rice seasoned with a definite Middle Eastern flare, and a slice of salmon: heaven. Thank god GF was full before I was--my serving of veggies just wasn't enough...

Our dessert picks ended off our meal on an even sweeter note: the burnt honey gelato had such a beautiful consistency (although the flavour was more along the lines of vanilla than honey).

But the real star was the Knaffa Ashta. We asked our server to pick our second dessert for us, so I barely read the menu description. I was expecting something dense like baklava, but was surprised and suddenly in love with what I experienced instead. The written description tells you it is an "angel hair filo layered with custard and topped off with rose water syrup", but it should really say that it is, in fact, a cloud of heaven, because that is exactly what it was.

We both chuckled like children when it was placed in front of us, as we agreed that it almost resembles a lightly battered white fish, but fishy it was not, and creamy, fluffy perfection it was.

Overall, our meal was perfect. We usually end up preferring our appetizers, as we are both naturally pick-ers, share-ers and combine-ers, but this time we were proved otherwise--favouring our entrees and desserts.

My fear slowly slipped away with the sun and I was more than anxious to indulge in another Summerlicious venture the following afternoon...