BY ALEXA ALTMAN 25 www.queenscourier.com I LIC COURIER I MAY 2013 Demystifying Greek “We hope that people just look at us like a Greek brasserie,” said Psilakis. “The whole focus of this restaurant really is to sort of demystify what Greek food is to people who don’t understand it. We’re trying to take things that are very recognizable and just call them something that you can recognize.” Take, for instance, the meatballs, or, as they are listed on the menu, rather than by their traditional name, keftedes. They arrive in an iron skillet bubbling with a tangy tomato sauce glistening with olives in shades of purple and green, the tender meat fragrant with dill, mint, and lots and lots of garlic. The octopus is exquisitely tender, nestled on a mound of chickpeas. Enormous head-on prawns are grilled, almost caramelizing their sweetness, served under a creamy bed of Grecian spinach and lemon rice pilaf. A refreshing spin on a bulgur salad is studded with juicy pomegranate seeds that explode between your teeth, crunchy pistachios, and tender dates... as your fork involuntarily keeps going back for more. The meal is full of excellent surprises, like a Cypriot lamb sausage sizzling in a skillet... or the scallops glistening with brown butter and dried cherries. So what inspired this inventive take on classic Greek flavors? “We aren’t just Greek,” said Psilakis. “We’re Greek Americans. The Greek restaurants that are in Astoria I used to go to. They’ve been here for decades. There’s a beauty in that.” Just take a glimpse down the sidewalk at the crowd waiting for seats outside neighborhood favorite, Taverna Kyclades, and it doesn’t take a Greek philosopher to deduce there is absolutely room on this boulevard for another Greek-inspired kitchen. Two worlds become one “The biggest difference for me really,” continues Psilakis, “is that being born here and being able to perceive the food that I grew up eating through our new country’s eyes allows us to take liberties with things that a traditional Greek wouldn’t.” The paella was inspired by youvetsi, a very traditional dish made with lamb and orzo in a clay pot. Psilakis took the idea of a youvetsi, playfully juxtaposing it with the idea of paella. Lamb sausage and orzo replace chorizo and rice. “It’s not a dish my mother would even understand,” said Psilakis. “It doesn’t belong in the Greek lexicon of food, and yet when you eat it, it reminds you of Greek food.” That’s not to say the menu at MP Taverna is void of classic Greek. On the traditional end of the spectrum, guests can order entire animal roasts, with five days advanced notice. From whole fish to lamb, from goat to suckling pig, Psilakis roasts dozens of animals a year. “To a certain degree Astoria allows you to cook food that can only be recognized in certain venues,” said Psilakis. “Astoria is one of those venues. There is enough of Greece here that if you are cooking with Greek flavors there’s going to be people who are going to understand the beauty of that thing that brings them back to childhood, or to a village. That, to me is exciting. That, to me is soulful.” MP Taverna 31-29 Ditmars Boulevard, Astoria 718-777-2187 • mptaverna.com Chef Michael Psilakis
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