Eat at Atheneo's

Last week we found out about a new Greek restaurant that opened near us! It's called Atheneo's Greek Village Cafe. We went Saturday night with Billy's parents to celebrate his and Jacob's birthdays (and are hoping to go there again this Saturday night with my parents and sisters. Yes, it's that good!).

For starters, we ordered tiropita (feta wrapped in phyllo and either baked or fried) and dolmadakia (rice-stuffed grape leaves). I liked the tiropita better than that I had tried at the Greek Food Festival. I wasn't impressed with the dolmadakia. The leaves were tough and the thick sauce on them was too tart for my tastes. The rice inside was good, but not enough to have to deal with the leaves. A friend of mine said we need to try the saganaki (which sounds Japanese to me). It's flaming cheese. She said it tasted great and her daughter loved the presentation of it.

For the main course, Billy's mom and I chose the Chicken Souvlaki "sandwich" - large chunks of marinated, grilled chicken in a fresh pita with tomatoes, red onion, and tzatziki sauce (cucumber yogurt sauce) on top. It tasted just as good as those from the Greek Food Festival, but what made it even better is the knowledge that I can now get one whenever I want! I don't have to wait until late September to get one anymore. Billy and his dad got souvlaki plates, which came with two skewers of meat (Billy got chicken; his dad got pork), the vegetable of the day (corn), pita wedges, peppercinis, choice of a soup or salad, and rice or potatoes. They both got Greek potatoes, potato wedges seasoned and fried. They were great! I found where you can get an order of them as an appetizer, so I'll be getting those to go with my souvlaki next time.

Something else I saw on the menu that looked really good was the Gyro Pizza. I think you can get one for a lunch special, so when the boys are gone over Spring Break, I'm planning to try one of those for lunch one day...

The desserts on the menu looked good, but we were too full for dessert there. Besides we had Jacob's birthday cake waiting at home - Mint Chocolate Fudge. It turned out better this time, though not quite as minty as I'd hoped. (I only used 1/3 of the bag of mint chips instead of the whole thing.)

We chatted with the owner's wife a bit. She's from Wisconsin, but her husband is Greek. His dream has been to own a Greek restaurant. They're both still working day jobs in addition to running the restaurant each night. I hope they are successful with it. We told her we would definitely be repeat customers! I told her I'd pass along recommendations. I think one of my friends may be going there tomorrow night with her husband on their "date night".

I can't wait to go back!