Athens

Kafeneion SI TI SI: Powered by Meze

In the midst of lockdown, it sometimes felt as if we would never eat in a restaurant again. While we dreamed of visiting our favorite spots, greeting the owners warmly and sitting down for a long, satisfying meal, we never let ourselves imagine a future in which new restaurants opened, especially bold and exciting places like Kafeneion SI TI SI. Yet chef Alexandros (Alex) Tsiotinis let himself dream – the idea for this modern kafeneio (a traditional kafeneio being an all-day venue serving coffee, booze and mezes) was, in fact, born during lockdown. The owners of Senios, a meze restaurant located downtown, came to him with a proposal to join forces. Alex accepted and quickly began crafting a menu featuring his own takes on typical kafeneio mezes.

Athens

Recipe: Papoutsakia, Greek Stuffed Eggplant

Everybody knows moussaka – it’s one of the most popular Greek dishes, along with souvlaki and Greek salad. In Greece, it’s commonly written in English, often in large letters, outside touristy tavernas. But many people don’t know that moussaka, which is traditionally made in summer, when eggplants are in season, has a cousin named melitzanes papoutsakia (eggplant papoutsakia). This dish is similar to moussaka but comes together much more quickly: Halved eggplants are baked, stuffed with a beef sauce (like the one used in moussaka) and then topped with a kind of Greek-style béchamel made with eggs.

Athens

Recipe: Watermelon Spoon Sweet

As a chef and a mom, I love to get creative with food scraps, the parts that many people would normally throw away – stems, fat, seeds, rinds, skins, bones, etc. To me this is the heart of contemporary gastronomy – cooking with as little waste as possible and managing to create beautiful flavors and textures with humble ingredients. It’s an approach that’s beneficial not just for our own health but also that of the planet. This urge to limit food waste has led me to study the history of Greek and Mediterranean cuisines, which traditionally revolved around what we now call “sustainable cooking.” One great example of a historic culinary tradition that was all about using everything at hand is the spoon sweet, a type of fruit preserve with ancient roots and the official welcoming treat of Greece – it was traditionally served upon arrival in a Greek home.

Athens

Picnic Week 2020: Athens

Is it always sunny in Athens? With nearly 300 days of sunshine in a year, it certainly feels that way. The consistently nice weather makes the city (and its suburbs) an ideal place for outdoor activities and picnics almost year-round. During the hottest months of July and August, however, most Athenians escape from the city center and choose to do an all-day picnic at one of the many nearby beaches around Attica, the region that encompasses Athens. Others head to the hills surrounding the city, which boasts several quiet, shaded spots with stunning views. But if you can’t escape the city center, there are still several ideal places to picnic at – even during the height of summer.

Athens

Ta Karamanlidika tou Fani – The Workshop: Deli Dynasty

Fanis Theodoropoulos grew up regularly visiting his father’s deli on Evripidou, the so-called “spice street” in the vibrant Central Market area. His father Dimitris, or “Barba-Mitsos,” as they called him, ran the tiny shop until 2002, when Fanis took over. Although they now offer a wide selection of meats and cheeses, sourced from artisanal producers all over the country, the hole-in-the-wall shop mainly sold air-dried cured meats like pastourma and soutzouki, as well as salami from Lefkada island until the 1980s. With these cured meats as a foundation, Fanis has built a small empire of delis – most recently an expansive “workshop” in the Monastiraki neighborhood – that draw from long-held culinary traditions.

Athens

Recipe: Sifnos-Style Chickpea Fritters with Caper Chutney

Despite Greece’s small size, the country has many different regional cuisines, with Greek island cuisine – particularly that of the Cyclades, which is rooted in simplicity and seasonality – being one of my favorites. The small, dry islands developed a kind of cucina povera, or “peasant cooking,” that was influenced in part by the Venetians, who governed the islands for over 300 years, and based on the few basic ingredients they could grow without much water, or without water at all: tomatoes, eggplants, watermelons, zucchinis, figs and grapes, all of which tend to be smaller in size but full of flavor.

Athens

Recipe: Portokalopita, a Syrupy Orange-Flavored Pie

When people ask me what’s my favorite time of the year here in Athens, I always say it’s spring and particularly April. That is when all the Seville orange trees lining the streets of Athens – both downtown and in the suburbs – blossom and perfume the whole city. I can spend hours walking around and inhaling the wonderful scent. The common orange is believed to be a naturally occurring hybrid between the pomelo and the mandarin. There are many different varieties and other hybrids that have evolved, but they generally fall into one of two categories: sweet (citrus x sinesis), which includes varieties such as the navel orange, the Valencia orange, the blood orange and the Jaffa orange, or bitter (citrus x aurantium), which includes the Seville orange, the trifoliate orange and the bergamot orange.