Looking for Greek food? Try Pylos

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Last night, I took an out-of-town friend to the Greek restaurant Pylos–she’d had a hankering for something different, and I decided it would be a fun place to try. The word “pylos” (pron. pee-los) refers to the clay pots that are common amongst the ruins of ancient Greece, and in fact, the restaurant’s entire ceiling is covered in these little clay jars. It is a small, home-y space that fills up quickly–in the front are several tables for smaller parties, while the back is filled with cozier bench seating and the communal table that also doubles as a bar.
The decorative motif echoes Pylos’s food philosophy of rustic home-cooking. Renowned chef Diane Kochilas, who specializes in Greek cuisine and lives almost full time in Greece, is the primary consultant on the menu, making sure that the food is as authentic as it can be away from the Aegean. The menu is full of traditional dishes: hot and cold appetizers that include dipping sauces and stuffed grape leaves; comfort foods like pastitio, the Greek take on lasagna; as well as lamb, steak, and fish, all dressed in traditional Greek sauces. And of course, there is a Greek salad.

Menu aside, Pylos’s unique selling point is its wine list. They only serve Greek wines (and primarily Greek varietals, although there are some international… and more familiar… grapes on the menu). Before dinner, I checked it out online, and when it all sounded, well, Greek to me, I did a little research. With the Pylos selection as my guide, I focused on 3 varietals. The first was a white, assyritiko, grown primarily on the islands and reminiscent of a Riesling. The second and third grapes that I looked into turned out to be Greece’s most important red grapes–the agiorgitiko (which means St. George) and the xinomavro (acid-black). The St. George produces a lighter-bodied, fruitier wine, with a hint of tannins, while the xinomavro, like the name hints, makes a dark-red wine, deeper and spicier, that is akin to Italy’s Nebbiolo grape.

I arrived a bit early, and as much as I like wine with a lot of kick to it, I decided to go for the agiorgitiko–a change from summer’s whites and roses, not too heavy, and named after G’s patron saint. Two were available by the glass, the Nemea Haggipavlu and the Red on Black; since both were the same price, I went for the one that sounded more Greek. It was served in a glass goblet, and I found it to be very drinkable–light, a little tannic on the tongue–nothing too special, but it kept me company while I waited.

Once my friend arrived, we were seated at the front of the restaurant, in the open window. We immediately took care of ordering so that we could get to talking. We decided to go the route of small plates, so that we could taste and talk more easily. Pita bread came out with some homemade hummus, and then the plates came out as they were ready, slowly filling our small table. First, the poikilia, 3 traditional dipping sauces (the yogurt-based tzatziki, the fish roe taramosalata, and the eggplant melitzanosalata), came out in little cakes on a plate, followed by the heavier anginares moussaka, a small layer-cake of artichoke hearts, caramelized onions, herbs, and three greek cheeses. We balanced it with the lighter Greek salad, a bowl full of fresh tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, capers, kalamata olives, feta, and a simple olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing.

Round two consisted of more pita, grappa-soaked haloumi cheese logs topped with cooked grapes, “light-as-air” meatballs (heavier than advertised), and dolmathes avgolemono, grape leaves stuffed with rice, ground beef and pine nuts, served with a lemony sauce. Every flavor was distinct–the moussaka was creamy but retained the texture of the artichoke hearts; the grape leaves were grassier than I had expected; and the haloumi cheese was a soft white cheese, hardened a little by the grappa. My personal favorites were the tzatziki, the moussaka, and the haloumi, as long as I scooped the grapes up at the same time, for the sweetness cut the strange texture, making it more palatable. Everything was delicious, and we even had leftovers. I can’t wait to go back to try a new combination.

Pylos
128 E. 7th St, near Ave. A
212.473.0220