Topos Gefsis Kriti

9/10/2008

Topos Gefsis Kriti
Category: Cretan Cuisine/northern suburbs
Atmosphere: pleasant and friendly
Menu: well-prepared greatest hits from the mother of the Mediterranean Diet!
Service: attentive
Kava: OK
Prices: 25-30 euro per person
Address: 13 Evaggelistrias str., Nea Erithrea, Tel. 2106250345, 2106250305



Worth the trek for those seeking an authentic experience out off the tourist path.

Everyone wants to find inexpensive places to eat these days, even well-heeled friends in the northern suburbs with expensive cars and big homes. Economy is the spirit of the times.

Finding reasonably priced restaurants north of Farro isn’t always easy though! One place we recently tried and liked is a small Cretan taverna in Erythrea called Topos Gefseis Kriti.

The space is simple, a small room with a few token Cretan artifacts placed strategically to give the room a traditional (but not cluttered or kitch) feel. The owner, mustachioed and dressed in black, looks the part of a gentrified mountain shepherd, except that he’s a former singer who grew up in Maroussi not Sfakia and has nothing to do with the birthplace of Zeus beyond a keen business interest which he executes very well.

We tried lots of traditional dishes here, all prepared by the traditional chef who does have roots on the island. The dolmades, for example, redolent of wild fennel and tender, were excellent. The revithada, with bits of crumbled feta melting over the surface, was delicious. We liked the dish called “kai ftes kai den ftais,” which are well-made, light zucchini fritters (kolokythokeftedes) also perfumed with herbs. The apaki was irresistible—thin slices of vinegary cured pork that made the raki go down like water. The mixed platter of kalitsounia, some with cheese, some with greens, were also quite good, lightly fried, and aromatic. I loved the pancake thin marathopites but also the schioufichta – zymarika – with mushrooms and pork. It’s the kind of dish you want to eat on cold nights. The gamopilafo isn’t the best I’ve ever had in Athens (that encomium probably goes to a small place in Holargos called Tomata), but it was pretty good, even thought the meat reminded me too much of the vrasta a la panaygyria which we “feast” on all summer on another Greek island.

Overall, though, Topos Gefseis Kriti is a place I’d go back to because it’s pleasant, quiet enough to have an evening’s worth of conversation without a struggle to hear, and well-priced. The owner, Cretan or not, has a keen sense of Cretan hospitality, noticing from afar that we wanted some fruit that wasn’t on the menu and sending over a nice big plate with which we finished our meal.