To Ouzeri tou Mitsou

Can misery be fun? That is the question when you set out for an Italian restaurant of some repute in downtown Halandri, a well-known suburb north of Athens, on a rainy Wednesday night, after having called just a few days earlier, only to discover that in the course of 72 hours said restaurant has gone out of business. Hmm. Where to go with two girlfriends for a final tipple and some tidbits before we all separate for Christmas? It was then that I remembered the lines, out the door, indeed, on most Saturdays when I happened to pass by a tiny hole in the wall right behind the main church on restaurant row in Halandri. The place: to Ouzeri tou Mitsou, a narrow, old-fashioned taverna with old-fashioned clientele: older guys with worry beads and retsina and cigarettes clustered in small groups, a few oddly modern couples, replete with pierced body parts and tatoos and chemical hair, and then us, three young-at-heart middle-aged ladies out for an easy meal and some wine-induced cheer.

I know this sounds strange, but this little ouzerie is, well, pleasantly miserable! I mean sooo simple and basic, with service and a menu to match, recalling the innocent, taverna-stuffed days of my youth. The food was fine. Decent fava (yellow split pea puree) come served warm (how to tell decent fava: it should be creamy and not pasty, and, yes, it is best served slightly warm). A classic plate of boiled zucchini came boiled to just the right point where al dente meets softness. The saganaki (fried cheese) was totally old-world style, encased in a thick batter before it hits the fryer, properly oozing within, with no extraneous “creative” additions that sometimes embellish but also sometimes mar the pure pleasure of indulging in artery-clogging food. Horta (greens) came as horta should: soft and pillowy and deep green, with a good dousing of our national treasure, olive oil, generously soaking it. Lemon on the side, of course.

We had the bakaliaro skordalia (fried cod with garlic dip), which was not an abridged version! Plenty of garlic in a dense, textural bread-based skordalia (garlic dip), the old-fashioned kind. A plate of fried small shrimp that were plucked out of the waters of Evia earlier in the day or week were more medium-sized than bite-sized and so needed to be purged of their heads before eating.

Mitso’s Ouzerie is a simple, rustic place, fitting, perhaps for these times, when we still want to go out, but just can’t afford to! I am beginning to long for the foamy days of yore when fava was infused with truffle oil and bakaliaros-skordalia was just a name open to interpretive cooking!

Cuisine: classics meze dishes to accompany with ouzo
Athens Area: northern suburbs
Decor: narrow, old-fashioned taverna, a bit rough around the edges but pleasantly retro
Service: ok
Prices: 12-15 euros a person
Address: 8, Eleftheroton square, Halandri, tel.: 210 6840229