It might seem like a bad joke to name a downtown Athens restaurant-bar Pure Bliss, during the era of this city’s Pure Hell. But Pure Bliss pulls it off, providing patrons in these uncertain times a refuge against all the stress that is spreading like cancer through Greek society. The secret: a totally personal...
A small menu—15 items in total—that includes offbeat items such as liver, snails, trahana (pebbly pasta with a sour taste) and kavourma (spiced, preserved pork, beef or buffalo) is a sign that someone in the kitchen has a point of view and is willing to stand by it. Indeed, the kitchen master behind the...
Dinner with my daughter, all of 17, is becoming increasingly more interesting. We actually set out for a new burger place in N. Psychiko, a northern suburb, but upon parking outside and looking in, we had little desire to go. Instead, we ended up across the street at the Prime Grill, on what has become...
I know it might seem out of sync with the times to be writing about one of the city’s most expensive restaurants, but I can justify it by saying that we ate very well and voted for treating ourselves during the holidays to something a little chicer than a neighborhood taverna. A night out...
This business of reviewing restaurants usually sounds more glamorous than it is. Most of the time, people who eat for a living end up eating a lot of very mediocre meals and a few very good ones in any given year. This year, 2011, got off to a great start for me with a...
Anyone who wants to get a sense for how the well-to-do party, Greek style, should take a cab ride about 6 km (4 miles) north of central Athens to the suburb of Neo Psychico. Here you’ll find the chichiest shops and some of the city’s most crowded restaurants, cafes and bars. On the main...
Visit us on the Blue Zone island Ikaria, where people have the longest life spans in the world, for a week of glorious Greek cooking classes in an ancient Greek-island village.
