Arcadiani - Oi nostimies ton giagiadon

A weekend in the Peloponnese might include many things, from visits to the wineries of Nemea and Mandineia and elsewhere, a tour of the archeological wonders, a stop in Nafplion, to a jaunt down to the Mani or a stroll through one of the region’s beautifully preserved villages, like Levidi, Stemnitsa, and Dimitsana. The one thing it should definitely include, at least from the perspective of a self-respecting food lover, is a drive up the winding road to the village of Psari in Arcadia, where Makis Papoulias has put together a small but impressive workshop where local women produce some of the best spoon sweets I have tasted, local pasta products, and some delicious desserts, including the very local karydokourambiedes (walnut Easter cookies). He is an ardent collector of antique cookery books and other home kitchen tools and the small but well-organized museum is a walk through time. But even more impressive than the sight of a few women scraping off the peels of bergamots, grapefruits, and oranges to make the workshop’s famed sweets (that’s what they were in the midst of doing when we arrived), is the restaurant that Papoulias has organized in the space. I had one of the best meals in recent memory in this lovely untouristed village, real home cooking made from obviously top-notch, fresh ingredients, with nothing on the table that was out of season.

Our simple meal—prepared by a couple of local women who work at the facility—started with a basket of home-made bread. Good sign. Next came a delicious tyrosalata, a creamy blend of feta, yogurt, diced green peppers and parsley. A plate of mapa (cabbage) with local sausages puts to shame the best wurst and sauerkraut concoctions. This was sweet from slow-cooked cabbage and tangy from the orange-flavored local sausages. One of my favorite regional dishes in all of Greece is the black-eyed peas and greens of the Peloponnese. Slowly cooked, as comforting as a down cover, healthy, and unsparing on the olive oil, which gives it its final, soft texture. Here, this dish was divine. We feasted on other small plates to start with, too. One of the best was the dark, grainy skordalia (garlic purée), made with both bread and walnuts. We sampled Arcadiani’s own homemade singlino, which is nothing like the stuff we find cryovacked in supermarket refrigerators. This was a piece of pork tenderloin that had been cured. It was sweet instead of numbingly salty. Excellent. A home-made squash pie was also excellent: light, flavorful, just the right thickness.

Why would a Greek lunch stop here? The main courses were yet to come! These included a soul-warming plate of straggistes (strained) hilopites (egg noodles) for our vegetarian companion and an absolutely delicious country braised lamb dish served with hilopites in tomato sauce. The lamb literally fell off the bone.

We drank a modest amount of Ktima Spyropoulos, thinking of the drive back, and we feasted on excellent yogurt topped with bergamot spoon sweets, and a heaping plate of sugar-dusted karydokourambiedes, which were spiced with cloves and gave me just the right sugar kick to have the energy to walk around the village afterwards. It was all worth it.

Cuisine: Regional dishes made with care and absolutely delicious

Area: in the Peloponnese

Decor-Atmosphere: Country comforts in a gorgeous setting with a view stretching all the way to Megalopolis

Service: Friendly

Wine List: Local, mainly Ktima Spyropoulos

Prices: 15-25 euro per person

Address: Psari Trikolonon Gortynias, Arcadia

Tel.: 27910-27161/27162