Cocina Povera

I have this thing about flocking to restaurants that have been the darling of a fickle press for all of a month or so. Such is the case with Cocina Povera, a hot new place opened by alumni of the late, great 48 restaurant, Giannis Kaimenakis and chef Kleomenis Zournatzis. For all its hipness, attractive prices, cool but simple design, hot spot on a historic pedestrian street in Pangrati, and excellent wine list at very good prices, I fear that the name divulges more truth about this restaurant than its owners intended it to. The food at best was mediocre.

Supposedly, the chef hits the market daily and decides the menu accordingly. I am curious to know where he found pumpkin and pomegranates on a hot June 9^th, when we visited. OK, so you can find Chilean pomegranates at the local super market and maybe some sharp-eyed grocer managed to save a pumpkin or two from last fall, but surely 10-month-old Fall vegetables and fruit that makes a very un-eco journey half way across the world to land on a table in Pangrati somehow defeat the whole purpose of daily forays to the market. Isn’t that supposed to imply seasonality, especially when the owner goes out of his way to inform you? My second sense of something being amiss came after reading through the menu and seeing that fully half of the 20 items offered contain cheese, for me a telltale sign that a little imagination is in order in the kitchen.

What we did order, cheese-filled and not, was ok but nothing more. We started with a very simple ladotyri Saganaki, which was easy and fine. Next came the plasto, a traditional Epirote wild greens pie (what’s wild in June besides Vlita-- amaranth??) with a cornmeal crust. The pie was very dry and the cornmeal crust, which should be nutty and comforting, was instead grainy and brown, like the color of a rainless summer field. The tuna with fava sounded promising but was the most disappointing of all. The tuna still had some fine bones left in it and it was cooked but in a way that turned the core into sponge, the color of dried blood. The fava was overwrought with roughly cut tomatoes and peppers and an over eager sprinkling of black sesame seeds. The dish failed clumsily. A mille feuille of eggplant sounded like a baked dish of thinly sliced eggplant, tomato and ricotta but instead came in the form of three large oval slices, so over breaded that you couldn’t taste the eggplant or feel it in your mouth. Massive lumps of ricotta and a pale pink tomato concasse completed the dish, which tasted ok but lacked anything close to finesse. The risotto was a little better, even though it was terribly sweet, surely not solely from the addition of that Fall pumpkin? The salmon was well prepared, grilled to a juicy finish, but served with a boring, busy potato salad that would have been better off with a sausage and beer.

We tried another mille feuille for dessert, with pastry cream and strawberries, which was ok, a little on the rough side like everything else, but tasty. The only thing going for Cocina Povera is the pricing, which comes to about 20-25 euro a person without wine. But I wonder, isn't that a povera excuse for not thinking through the menu, its execution, and presentation a little better?

Cuisine: menu changes daily, Greek cuisine
Athens Area: Pangrati, close to Kolonaki
Decor-Atmosphere: In the general “taverneau” category of places designed to look like modern day grocery stores, right down to the wooden wine crates turned into side tables and holding bins
Service: Friendly
Wine List: Very good list and very good prices
Prices: Around 20-25 per person without wine
Address: 13, Eforionos str. & Eratosthenous str. (pedestrian street), Pangrati, tel. 210 7566008