Last week, as we were telling our landlords about our wet basement, the conversation turned to food. They asked if we’d tried the new Greek restaurant in our neighborhood.  We hadn’t, though Bill had seen signs for it.  I wanted to go out last night, so we decided to walk to this new place.  To be totally honest, I’m not even really sure of the name of the restaurant… and when I left there last night, I was feeling no pain.  I did take a picture of the sign out front, though, as we were leaving.

Bei Dino?  ETA:  Bill says the restaurant is called Taverne bei Dimi…

As we approached this place, the chef was standing outside.  He followed us into the restaurant and a lady sitting in what appears to be their smoking lounge got up to greet us.  The smoking lounge is walled off with glass and has a TV and several electronic gambling machines.  A few folks were in there drinking, smoking, and gambling.

The lady who waited on us beamed when we told her we were Americans who live in the neighborhood.  She spoke very broken English, but I got the sense that Americans don’t visit their restaurant very often.  She told us she had spent a long time in Germany, then moved back home to northern Greece for a few years.  She also told us that she and her brother had moved back to Germany from Greece so she could send money to her daughter, who is studying at a university back home.  Evidently, the economy is not so good in Greece.  Yes, I’d heard about that… but she made it sound like she and her family were very personally affected.  I got a kick out of her comment that America is too dangerous.  I’m sure people who watch the news but have never been to the States could easily get that impression.

Bill checks out the menu…

They had some interesting art on the walls…  I kind of like this painting.

Smoking lounge…

I decided on the dorade, which they offer on Friday and Saturday nights.  Bill had lamb cutlets.  Our very kind waitress brought out a house shot of ouzo for us as we sipped dry red wine.  As we waited for our food, I looked around the restaurant, which is kind of plainly decorated.  A few more people came in for dinner.

The salad that came with my fish.  It was a little salty.

Bill’s salad seemed to be more Greek inspired.  It included feta and more peppers.  

Bill’s lamb.  He said it was very good.  I don’t like lamb very much, so I didn’t try it.

My dorade was mostly good, except it was a little cold/underdone in the middle.  It could have used a little more time on the fire.  I didn’t complain, though, because by the time I realized it was underdone, I had pretty much had enough anyway.  We could have taken the fish with us if we’d wanted to.  The t’zatziki that came with this dorade was absolutely fantastic… probably among the best I’ve ever had.  I liked the thick cut fries, too.

Specials…

While I have had better dorade elsewhere, I liked this restaurant because I enjoyed talking to the lady/waitress who took care of us.  She was very friendly and kind and even showed us pictures of home and her family.  It made me want to go to Greece.  She brought out more ouzo, too…

We will have to go back and try their gyros and souvlaki.  I like that this restaurant is within stumbling distance of where we live.  That allows us to drink lots of red wine… which we definitely did last night.