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by Carole Kotkin

Fall is the best time experience Crete.  The tourists have left and Cretans stroll down the twisting, shop-lined streets of Heraklion, Crete's seaside capital, happily munching on bougatsa ( flaky pastry filled with vanilla-cinammon cream) hot from the oven. There may be a nip in the air, but the people who sit sipping aperitifs at the outdoor cafes don't seem to notice.  Although Crete is the largest of the Greek  islands, it is only about 160 miles long and 35 miles at its broadest. Despite its size, it is a powerful presence, with its snowcapped mountains rising to eight thousand feet.

There's something enchanting about Greece and the Greek Islands.   Perhaps its the golden sunshine, the aquamarine Mediterranean sea or, most probably, it's the delicious food. Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust, a non-profit educational food association, organized an international  symposium  in Crete  to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rockefeller Foundation diet studies. Those  findings indicated that the diets of people living in the 16 countries that border the Mediterranean, and in Crete in particular, were healthier than their neighbors in northern Europe or the U.S. The study suggests that Mediterranean's owe their good health to a diet that's high in complex carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes; low to moderate in dairy products, fish and poultry; and very low in red meat. The main fat used is olive oil, and wine is usually consumed with meals.

Cretans shop daily at markets filled with displays of perfectly ripe vegetables and fruits, wild greens, glistening sea bass just off the boat, arrays of feta and kasseri cheese and homemade yogurt;  jars of Cretan honey,  freshly baked crusty barley rusks,  bins of nuts and raisins, and bowls of green and black olives.  Throughout the market are the sweet smells of exquisite spices and herbs that  flavor Greek cooking:  cinnamon, garlic, cumin, oregano and rosemary. Once cooked, these foods are anointed with fruity olive oil from 1,000 year old trees and washed down with a glass or two of fragrant Grecian wine.

 Here in the United States, let go whatever images you have had of Greek food as served in Greek-American restaurants in the past - lamb presented on skewers, leaden moussaka, gyros , and  baklava soaked in, rather than just flavored with syrup.

Imagine instead swordfish so fresh and flavorful that to do anything more than toss it onto a grill  with a drizzle of olive oil  and lemon would be over-kill.  Or langouste (spiny lobster) in a velvety tomato/saffron sauce.  Or the sweet tenderness of young lamb grazed on herb-filled mountain pastures, or the complexities and creaminess of feta cheese in a luscious tomato salad. This is Greek-American food in the 90's.

 Greek cuisine is entrenched in history. Influenced by the cultures of its neighbors for centuries-Turkey, the Middle East,  and the Balkans, Greek cooking has always been country cookery at its best, dependent on the seasons, and with no written culinary tradition, the recipes were often passed on from generation to generation orally. Sadly it is a culinary tradition that is disappearing in Greece. As Greece became more prosperous its people no longer wanted to cook  the foods of the poor, and instead opted for the more fashionable foods of France, Italy and yes, McDonald's.  According to Aglaia Kremezi author of The Foods of Greece,  "The irony is that just as the world has discovered the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, we in Greece are running away from it, without even looking back.  The only hope lies in this strong trend from abroad."

Young, imaginative American chefs,  have traveled to Greece to experience the best of real Greek food.  They returned  home to enhance those traditions with their professional expertise, using what are indisputably some of the finest-quality raw ingredients in the world. In doing so they have created a whole new world of excitement while at the same time preserving Greece's culinary heritage.

 John Livanos, who arrived in the United States from Greece in 1957, began his illustrious restaurant career as a dishwasher in New York City.  By 1992 he had gained enough foodservice acumen and financial stability to open Oceana, a seafood restaurant,  in Manhattan with Rick Moonen as chef. Since that time Chef Moonen has earned the restaurant three stars in the New York Times and four stars from Forbes Magazine. The Livanos family achieved a life-long dream to open a Greek restaurant in New York when Molyvos opened this May with partners Chef Rick Moonen and Paul McLaughlin.   Chefs  Moonen and Executive Chef of Molyvos, Jim Botsacos,  traveled to Athens to meet with Aglaia Kremezi to plan the menu for the new restaurant, named after John Livanos's small Greek fishing village. "I felt that they should mainly savor good home cooking, because that's where the real foods of Greece can be found.  There is no restaurant tradition in my country, as people would eat out rarely, " says Kremezi.  After weeks of intensive research in Greece, the chefs developed a deep understanding of Greek spirit, lifestyle and culture, and how they form the basis of a rich cuisine. The regional Greek menu at Molyvos features familiar dishes as well as those prepared and served only in the Greek home: pies, stews, soups, braises and salads. But home cooking was never like this.  French trained,  Chef Jim Botsacos has made the flavors more vibrant, the textures more sensuous, and the results uncompromising in quality and taste. It's clear that Chef Moonen respects that perfectionism. "On a plate, there's got to be some sort of intrigue, some color, some flavors that work together.  One can't overpower the other.  They need to work off of one another.  Like a great glass of wine.  The fullness on the palate.  The fact that it's all there.  There's a balance.  There's fruit, tannin, texture, and when it all comes together just so, you're willing to pull $300 out of your pocket just to enjoy it.  Cuisine is no different.  You've got to find complete balance. " And, according to Chef Boutsakis, customers are seeking out Greek restaurants in droves, "Just this year at least ten Greek restaurants have opened in New York. The straightforward ingredients speak for themselves and our customers are very receptive." And so are the critics.  Ruth Reichl, restaurant critic for The New York Times bestowed three stars on Molyvos . Note:** B

 Dionysos on Fifth Avenue in New York has quickly made a place for itself in this rapidly growing community of recently opennd authentic Greek eateries.  Here Santorini born executive chef Kostas Perifanos is wowing diners with Greek regional dishes like youvetsi, (a meltingly tender baby lamb stew served with orzo pasta.) the celebratory weekend Greek family dish;  and red snapper spiked with lemon, olive oil and fresh tomatoes. The owners are already planning to open a second restaurant in Manhattan within the next two years.

 "Greek is the cuisine of the moment," says Richard Melman, owner of Chicago's Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group, which has more than 55 eateries, including two locations for Papagus Greek Taverna, a restaurant that the Chicago Tribune has called "quite simply the best Greek restaurant in Chicago." Yorgo Koutsogiorgas and James Banakis,  partners of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises have been the driving force behind Papagus. "I want to share my knowledge of Greek culture and foods to make their experience here a memorable one, just as I strive to make my friends comfortable in my home," says Koutsogiorgas. They both traveled to Greece and researched the food and wines of the country, along with other members of the Papagus creative team. They roamed the countryside, talking to cooks of all types, both home and professional, observed their techniques and then brought back recipes that are a comfortable blend of the old and the new-geared to the American palate, but inherently Greek. Banakis, a third generation Greek-American, first went to Greece when he was in his 20's.  He was surprised to find  the dining experience different from what he knew at his family table. "It was such simple, flavorful, satisfying food, yet light, and no matter if it was a splendid festive occasion or an ordinary family supper, the dining table was the place to enjoy each other's company," he says. "That's the kind of food we are serving at Papagus," he continues.  The menu features familiar Greek foods like spanakopita (spinach and feta cheese phyllo pie) and Souvlaki (grilled shish kebabs), but they have also introduced unfamiliar regional Greek dishes like a grilled cheese appetizer made with little-known Halloumi cheese from Cyprus. "Today authentic Greek food is becoming more main stream as the dining public becomes more educated. Family groups come in and the food is embraced and enjoyed by the children and that, of course, is the future," remarks Banakis.

Mezethes, are little appetizers that accompany a glass of wine or ouzo, beer or whisky--marinated olives, fried cheeses, salted almonds, eggplant and spices, dips of fish roe and cucumber and yogurt. Several selections often become a meal in itself. These are some of the simple foods that first captivated chef/owner George Bakatsias when he opened a Greek taverna in Durham, North Carolina almost 20 years ago. "I wanted to convey something about the Greek approach to life, to give a sense of its history, of its culture through the country's food, " says Greek-born Bakatsias. **Note C    Bakatsias is now the owner of two other restaurants in Durham, PariZade and Café Giorgio's, as well as George's Garage which is a Mediterranean marketplace; a one-stop eating, meeting and shopping destination combining themes from the marketplaces of  France, Greece and Italy.  George's Garage has proven to be so successful in Durham that he has opened a similar concept with partner Peter Tsialiamanis in Hollywood, Florida, called Giorgio's Mediterranean Village. The first component, Giorgio's Grill has opened to rave reviews and Taverna Opa, opens in September.  "Greek food is not complex, its allure lies in its very simplicity. A Greek cook understands how to combine fresh natural flavors and ingredients to produce a finished dish. No architecture on the plate, no works of art-just one ingredient on a plate," he continues.  He goes on to say that there is customer demand for comfort home cooking if it's done right,  "The challenge is innovation with respect to tradition.  For example, dolmathes (grape leaves stuffed with rice, pine nuts and currants) are given a new twist with rice and shrimp stuffed in grilled grape leaves."  His goal right now is to create a Taverna atmosphere on the Hollywood waterfront  that is filled with passion and fun, and make dinner an experience instead of just a meal.

 There's a pot of basil on the door step of every Greek house, but it's not for cooking, it's to ward off the "evil eye."  But go around to the back of the house and you'll find plenty of wild greens or "horta" (bitter, pungent, tangy and sharp).  Greens like dandelion, mustard, arugula , nettles, or  purslane are cooked until tender, cooled and served with dashes of olive oil and lemon juice or baked into a pie. San Francisco's Campton Place Hotel's Executive Chef Todd Humphries is finding wild greens in his backyard, too, with the help of Chef Daphne Zepos. Daphne's business card reads "forager and cheese consultant." After 5-1/2 years in the kitchen at Campton Place she is now reinforcing the restaurant's philosophy of only using seasonal ingredients of uncompromising quality from outside the kitchen.   "Campton Place has been influenced by the spirit of  Greek women who were forced to forage wild greens because of hunger, but what they found was so flavorful it remained when prosperity returned. The California climate is similar to that of the Mediterranean and many wild greens similar to those I saw in Crete grow here. So, I go around the Bay area and collect wild greens or find people to grow them just for us," says Zephos enthusiastically . Campton Place Restaurant has been named one of the "Top 25 Restaurants in America" by Food & Wine Magazine, given a DiRoNa Award by the Distinguished Restaurants of North America, Four Stars from the San Francisco Examiner, and the AAA Five Diamond Dining Award.  Humphries, who joined Campton Place Restaurant in 1993 from Lespinasse in New York, says, "I like to let my ingredients be my inspiration. We never let our search for new and exciting dishes get in the way of bringing out the best of what each ingredient has to offer." He is intrigued by the robust simple flavors and yet very elegant Mediterranean cuisine . His dishes emphasize vegetables and flavorings as opposed to meats. Humphries is not just boiling up wild edibles as part of a rustic cuisine; he is integrating entirely new flavors into established haute cuisine. This works beautifully in salmon cured in wild fennel with a salad of wild peppercress; pan-fried foie gras with wild elderberries, purslane and elderberry sauce; and North Carolina prawns and sweet corn raviolis with orach leaves, chickweed and morels, drizzled with sweet corn sauce. Daphne has introduced an artisan cheese cart to Campton Place where she is also known as the "trolley dolly". She is in constant touch with cheese-makers  and always looking for "artisan producers" . When customers ask for advice Daphne steers them toward a carefully balanced selection and a matching wine. Customers reaction is delight-and surprise.

This was adapted from an article written for Wine News magazine.

Photos by Carole S. Kotkin

-Updated 4-3- 98-

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