Chritos Anesti: Greek Easter Celebrations

Zena, Goddess of Fire, is only half Greek. That should explain everything.

As a rotten kid I would gloat when Easter and Greek Easter were on different Sundays, because then I got more chocolate. Even on a solemn, religious holiday and all I could think about was food. Nothing's changed.

So my big, wonderful, loud, crazy extended family gathered this past weekend to be together, laugh, love, drink and eat too much. We always start with about two hours of appetizers, this year featuring Humbolt Fog cheese (creamy, delightful), wild caught U.S. shrimp from the Korean market (jumbos, with cocktail sauce), taramasolata from somewhere near Pleasantville (whipped and light, not too salty), and more. I tried not to overdo it, but, of course, I did.

At top, eggplant, taramasalata and hummus. Below - a lovely selection of cheeses, shrimp, nuts and salami. 

Then the loukaniko hits the grill - pork and lamb sausage laced with orange and fennel - served straight up or with a hit of hot mustard - this is always such a treat.

Loukaniko sausages - made with lamb and pork - amazing

Then a load of grass fed lamb ordered direct from a farm in PA - loins and lollis - marinated simply in olive oil, salt and pepper and oregano, burned on the grill (controlling the heat with a spray of beer) and finished with fresh lemon. The best lamb I've ever had.

This is just one tray of the lamb

The fire went out. It was an emergency so we called the Fire Chief to start it up again.

This is an action shot. Beer nicely controlled the flames. Really.

After a mad scramble to clean up the first round (I didn't help) dinner is served - spanakopita, green beans, a Greek style salad with sweet peppers and cuke and feta and tomatoes (dee-lish), bread from the store because I burnt what I made to bring (typical), grilled veg, orzo, sliced ham, and lots and lots of lamb. A feast!!!

A feast!!! Lamb not shown for some reason...

Then we bop eggs - butt to butt and pointy end to pointy end - something to do with the resurrection - and s/he with the last intact egg gets good luck. Me, I lost and ate the egg. It was good.

Time for dessert - sesame cookies, baklava, fruit salad, and even "extra dessert" - one wonderful cuz had his 50th birthday. That's a Napolean cake - the entire thing. Amazing. I skipped the fruit....

Happy birthday, Cuz!!!  

This is not a selfie

It was and always is wonderful to share a special day with those I love, and so I share my love of food and family with the rest of you. Christos Anesti!!!

Zena, Goddess of Fire

Everyone is smiling, even Cooper the dog, who kept the carpet clean of crumbs

Doing Dishes: Dining at the Diners - Capital City Diner

Albany has a lot of really cool diners - 50s throwback decor, some still with juke boxes and girls in uniforms, licenses, open all the time - very iconic NY if you ask me - and believe me, I'm a native Yew Norker AND Greek AND a superhero keeping very weird hours and sometimes you just NEED A BEER and some fried things late at night, or breakfast at 3:00 p.m. I've done my time in these places. I ate at most of them doing my rounds when I first moved to the Capital Region in 2001 and then promptly forgot about them. One can only do so many meals of white rolls wrapped in plastic and iceberg lettuce salads and canned soup.

But much has changed in the restaurant biz these past almost 15 years and I wondered if our expectations of good food, served quickly, reasonably priced, in a comfortable environment, is holding true in our area diners. Does anyone go beyond the basics to be amazing destination spots in their own right? And, most importantly, what about their souvlaki??? The quest begins. This is the first in a series of specifically Greek diners in the Capital Region. Parakalo. 

Capital City Diner
This is a real diner - one of those Greek family run shiny chrome and vinyl studded affairs with a menu that's a mile long, daily specials, and desserts a mile high. Kind of a home away from home for alot of folks. The space is clean, the staff are friendly, and the food is pretty good. CC offers daily specials, several soup du jours of the day, breakfast/lunch/dinner, and even has fountain drinks.

Four of us went for lunch and there were no real failures, although I thought the meat loaf tasted weird, like onion soup mix, and the gravy was weird like that too, and kind of salty, but Pony liked her lunch and saved half for a meal the next day (Meat Loaf Dinner served with mashed and mixed veggies, soup or salad for $11.99). The large Buffalo Chicken Salad with a choice of dressings (Foodie Friend chose blue cheese; $8.59) held no surprises but was fresh and crispy with a nice variety of veggies. Red went for the Blue Cheese Burger ($6.59); it came with a side of slaw that was soggy and warm, and a pickle, but the crusty roll and just the right amount of blue cheese topping a perfectly cooked medium-well patty was really quite delicious.  

The Meat  Loaf Dinner at Capital City Diner can feed two hungry superheroes

The Buffalo Chicken Salad was a hearty serving - predictable but good. 

The Blue Cheese Burger looks very plain but was actually delicious.

Ahhh, chicken souvlaki. The one at CC had a generous serving of tender marinated chicken, lots of onions and tomatoes, and nice thick tzatziki on the side all wrapped up in a soft warm pita ($7.29). Fries or a side salad are an extra $3 or you can have both for another $4. Good value, fresh, not processed or heavily salted/seasoned - this chicken souvlaki (which I've had many times before) has been my gold standard to date, but I'm wondering what else I will find. This one is hard to beat. 

I asked for an extra container of their tzatziki which they were happy to provide at no extra charge. I ate them both.

The desserts looked AMAZING!!!

I have a list of Greek diners in the Capital District that we plan to explore over the next several months. Do you have anyone you want to add?  Just let me know.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

PS:  Here's our list so far:
Gateway
Latham '76
Route 7 Diner
Pearl Street Diner
Circle
Alexis
Farmer Boy
Colonie Diner

Athos

Is it just me, or have restaurants gotten darker and darker?  I was just reading an article about restaurants in New York who are not allowing customers to take photos of their food because the flashing was getting to be an enormous annoyance for everyone.  Well...I USTA be able to just quietly take out my phone and take a photo but I haven't  been posting lately because I can't get a photo that way anymore.  It's too dark.

Athos was the same way earlier this week when I visited with a friend.  She has taken to the restaurant and I know why.  Located at 1814 Western Ave., it has a very handsome and comfortable ambiance.  We slipped into a booth because we were there for wine and appetizers.

My friend was experienced, so she was a very helpful guide regarding how much to order.  We both enjoyed the cabernet sauvignon, and we got the shared salad for two, which was dressed with a subtle creamy house dressing that didn't cover up any flavors.

Pita with tapenade came with the table and the tapenade was a great start.

We added:


SAGANAKI
lightly sautéed kefalograviera cheese finished with table-side greek cognac flambé 10 †

and


KEFTEDAKIA
grilled ground beef & lamb patties seasoned with mint, garlic, and onion 8  ◊

The cheese was strong, chewy and salty and was magnificent with the wine and the other flavors on the table, and the keftedies were perfectly grilled.

So I couldn't think of a better way to enjoy sitting with my friend, sharing our new haircuts and catching up with each other than this lovely spread of delicious food.  And I still can't, several days later.

When we left on that Tuesday night, the parking lot was full, but the restaurant had remained very quiet - a mark of excellent architecture in my book.  My friend explained that the family who owns the place had a restaurant that her family used to enjoy in New York City, and now they have relocated here.  I'm really glad they did!