Mavrikos

3/7/2008
MAVRIKOS

Cuisine: Excellent Greek Fair
Area: Lindos, Rhodes
Decor: Warm and welcoming, excellent views
Wine List: Excellent
Address; Lindos, Rhodes
Service: Professional and friendly
Prices: 30-40 euro per person
Address: Main Square, Lindos, Rhodes, Tel. 22440 31232

Quick Bite:


I make a call. Arrange a taxi. And, two hours later, I land in the main square of Lindos . Our destination isn’t the temple but Mavrikos restaurant, right there on the square where it’s been for the last 70 years. Mihalis Mavrikos greets us, guides us to our seats against one wall of the inner garden where characteristic ceramic plates hang from the wall and an overhead trellis provides the greenery. The place is simpler than I expected.

It doesn’t take but a few minutes before he’s showing us pictures of young, Dark-Side-of-the-Moon era Roger Glimore, who owns a house nearby, or a picture of Jackie O just a year after Kennedy’s assassination. It takes but a few minutes, too, for the first of many fine plates to make their way out of the kitchen, domain of his partner and brother Dimitris Mavrikos, who appears now and then in starched whites, smiling.

Our first taste of this first-rate restaurant is a mound of a deep-rose-hued dip made with local tiny shrimp and seasoned with chile and ginger. It’s a perfect match for the chilled CAIR Velvet brut that sparkles in our glasses. We are tempted by dishes like giant beans with carob syrup, feta-ricotta mousse, various eggplant creations but settle instead on lighter fare. A chick pea puree seasoned with orange and cumin is a deep dark mustard color and comes fanned out like a giant cockle shell on the plate with whole chick peas embedded here and there. Delicious. The fresh marinated sardine is excellent: firm and fresh, cured for just a few hours to “cook” it, and served with thick slices of raw onion, flecks of boukovo and a drizzle of vinegar-honey-petimezi reduction. We try the home-cured kolios, too, served in a similar way. I loved a simple dish most: the perfectly cooked, al dente pligouri mixed with finely ground octopus “kima”, seasoned with a little tomato and just a taste of orange, one of this chef’s favorite flavors. He uses it in many dishes.

Every dish comes with a story, like the one about the perfectly cooked squid ink risotto garnished with two golden strips of orange zest. Mavrikos was served the dish by a chef in the Venetto who was trying to impress him, only to say that the dish, black and shiny like onyx, was something his grandmother in Rhodes used to make. Another favorite was a squid dish with tender rings cooked in two sauces: one, subtle and sweet, the color of bougainvillias but made with beets and another made with saffron. The last we sampled was also excellent: a thick piece of magiatiko, charred on the grill but tender and flaky inside. It is served with grape leaf pesto, a very subtle, very fine sauce essentially drizzled on with olive oil. Our taxi beckoned. Out came a few balls of homemade mandarini sorbet. I can still taste it as I write this…

I could have stayed in this garden for hours, talking about the finer points of Greek cooking. At some point Mr. Mavrikos sr., helped by Mihalis’ wife, made his way with two canes across the garden, taking up a perch by the kitchen in full view of the yard. The patriarch,” chef Dimitri lovingly called him. Mavrikos is one of those rare restaurants where family traditions and the spirit of the times find a perfect balance. I would gladly come back here, from Kastellorizo, or anywhere else.