Filed under Greek, Upper West Side · Print This Post
222 West 79th Street off Amsterdam Avenue
212/873.0200
$45 for two people, with one drink, without tip
♥ ♥
I was really surprised at how Onera had changed. The navy blue and white walls remained so I was taken aback when I walked in the lower-level space of Kefi. I was even more shocked when our bill was delivered. Sure, I didn’t have any wine that night and we made a meal out of several mezes, but it’s been a long time since the Dr. and I have spent less than $50 on dinner.
Chef Michael Psilakis’ Onera was one of my favorite places during its heyday. Gone are the long tables and nice chairs but the straightforward taverna food is still on the menu. I was recovering from being sick and when my appetite came back, I was pining for warm pita and an octopus. (I’m weird like this often.) When the spreads were served, I couldn’t stop myself from eating them. The yogurt was tart, the caviar salty, the eggplant mushy and the hummus garlicky–four sensations I wouldn’t ask less of on any given night. The sweetbreads were crispy with breaded onion rings and an addicting sauce with giant capers. I’m not the biggest fan of capers but they were excellent with the offal. (Oh, the offal tasting menu of Onera!) I would have wanted the octopus with a crispier crust but I absolutely loved the bed of chickpeas and black-eyed peas with parsley. If not for the overwhelming garlic in the mashed potatoes, the cod would have been one of the best fish dishes I’ve had as of late. Not that all the garlic stopped us. Everything tasted like they were done out of love; like a Greek grandma was in the kitchen telling us to “Eat, eat, eat!” because all our dishes were served all at once. Greek food I must say, is a cuisine I started to love as soon as I started taking photographs of my food, and it will be in New York City to stay.
Related post/s:
Kefi used to be Onera
Around the neighborhood: ‘cesca
Greek food downtown
Filed under Greek, Upper West Side · Print This Post
222 West 79th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam
212/873.0200
about $200 for two, with two drinks, with tip
♥ ♥ ♥
Updated, 2007: Chef Michael Psilakis has turned Onera into cash-only Kelfi. He has also opened Anthos at 36 West 52nd Street off Fifth Avenue, 212/582.6900
My party was forty minutes late but the Onera staff was very accommodating. Perhaps I was already sitting and consuming alcohol at the bar and they had no other choice but to wait for my seven other diningmates. When they finally showed up, our table for eight was situated perfectly in the back of the tiny basement restaurant.
When my friends wanted to try something different without paying for a ridiculously expensive omakase at a sushi restaurant, I thought of Onera because Greek is not always the first thing in people’s minds when they think of dinner, so it can only be a curious choice. My friends’ filet mignon were all done the way they preferred. A couple ordered pork tenderloin and they were both delicious, served with fennel and toasted garlic velouté. I went off the too-familiar list and started with two dishes from their meze menu, or small appetizers. The sea urchin came on top of pickled beets and cheese. Everyone wanted to taste my uni and unfortunately, I had to give up three out of the five on my small plate. The scallops came with yogurt cucumber sauce and a whiff of anise. I only had three pieces so I devoured them before anyone said anything.
For my main meal, I divided my attention between the chilled roasted octopus and the crispy sweetbreads. Again, everyone’s forks were attacking my plates and I could not help but scold them for choosing the steak and the pork belly without thinking of the other items on the menu. But even though I did not have enough, the octopus was nice and tarty and the sweetbreads divine. Even with foie gras and sheep milk fraiche, the sweetbreads were not overly decadent to turn me off.
Onera did not disappoint me, nor my picky friends.
