Papgus is gone... closed its doors and ..... 2007 10 22 So goes Greek 'food' in Ottawa.
Greek fest is on this week.... 2007 08 09.
Greek Food in Ottawa
The Greek festival, which comes up in the summer every year, seems to be serving the needs of Ottawans for what Greek food has to offer. Essentially, souvlaki (a shish kabob), salad with oil and vinegar, some filo pastry desserts like baklava, and lamb chops. Ouzo, bouzo and rice and potatoes.
Then there are the Greek restaurants.... Pilos in the East end seems to be a perennial favourite. Believe they moved here from Montreal.... where they have a little Greek town with a number of famous restaurants. Where you can bring your own vino. Au Vieux Duluth was a restaurant that immigrated from Montreal.. from the greek town area of the same name... but it did not survive in Ottawa's east end... says something about Pilos..... Then there is the Greek Souvlaki House on Prince of Wales at Baseline, which seems to be a favourite of the more parsimonious Greeks amongst us. Portions are huge, especially the potatoes and rice...and the prices are reasonable. One just has to know what one likes and should eat.
And then there’s Papagus’ Greek Taverna, which has been in Ottawa for donkey’s years. It is a popular spot for lunch, but it was one of those few occasions where a friend suggested that she liked Greek food, that I decided to give it a try for dinner. (Did anyone know that Mamma Theresa's was at this location before they moved to the present one).
I was suitably shocked at the prices. Greek food is not complex stuff, as described above. The variety was quite interesting though. They had a lamb stew in a filo shell; very similar to a beef wellington, except with filo and lamb (arnaki/lamb exochiko) ... you get the picture. It was quite interesting. At $18, including some rice and green beans vegetable, it was very interesting. And I had the beef and lamb souvlaki... with the same accoutrements and some potatoes. The 5 chunks of meat were relatively large, the beef being the better two pieces of the five. Requested medium rare, but came medium anyway. At $22 very expensive. And then we had hot dolmades ($7.50)... really interesting..., ouzo, some Apelis (house) white wine ($15 for ½ litre or $24 a bottle) and dessert (kadaifi, wonder if Gaddafi likes kadaifi?). Came to $120 for two. I would have to say that it was pretty expensive, for just plain old Greek food and wondered if Montreal was as expensive.
Service was essentially brusque, stoic and just short of rude (Sandy was his name... probably the only waiter needed for a silent Sunday night to a mostly empty restaurant). Flambé cheese with ‘ooupa’ at next table was interesting, and aside from Socrates, Plato and some of the great philosophers and story tellers, I would ask the rhetorical question of... do Greeks really know how to cook? And do they care?
May you live in interesting times...
2007 07 23
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