Tino's Greek Cafe

Whoops! I almost to forgot to write about this place..... and unfortunately, it was just THAT memorable! About ten days ago, three of us were getting together for lunch, and we needed someplace near Brodie and William Cannon, so Tino's was suggested. It's a little further south at Slaughter, at the northeast corner of the intersection.

There were no printed menus that I could see, just the chalkboard, which I found a bit hard to read. You go to the counter to order, and they serve it up in front of you, cafeteria style. One of my friends had said the gyro meat was good, so I decided to get that as part of the the combo plate. I asked the man working the line which sides were the best, and he shrugs his shoulders and says they're all good. Okay....so not really helpful. So by looking at the food (shoulda taken a picture), I choose the spanakopita, falafel patty, and meatball; and I had my choice of soup or salad, so I opted for the chicken lemon soup.

The soup wasn't bad, it definitely had some lemon flavor to it, and rather small bits of chicken. Would have probably enjoyed it more if it weren't 100 degrees outside! (But I picked it rather than the salad, because that was iceberg, under ripe tomatoes, and cucumbers, as seen in the plate below on the left.)  The gyro meat is a combination of lamb and beef (I wasn't sure, so I just called them to ask as I sat here writing this up), and was really quite good, especially with their nice, soft, pita bread. (One friend comes here to buy their pita, as opposed to going to Phoenicia Bakery, and I can see why.) The meat was tender and moist, with very good flavor. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the meal. The spanakopita (spinach and feta wrapped in phyllo dough -- the triangle in the lower right of the picture) was decent; not quite crispy enough for my liking, but not as soggy as it could be given that it had been sitting under the heat lights. The falafel patty was totally limp, no crunch to it at all, as you would expect to find, and the meatball really didn't have much taste to it, nor did it's tomato sauce. I tried a bite of my friends' hummus and baba ghanouj, both of which were decent, but nothing to write home about.

It also concerned me that they were storing paint cans next to the soda dispenser. In food safety and sanitation rules, that's a big no-no. Also, the bottled cleaner they were using to wipe down the tables had a very strong chemical odor to it, and while I guess it's good they were being liberal with it's application, one of my friend's is 30+ weeks pregnant, and there was a mother with a newborn at the table next to us. The smell from the cleaner drove us out.

So if you venture over to Tino's, and there are a couple locations around town, go for the gyro meat and pita, but skip the rest. Oh, and maybe get it to go.

El Greco -- an update

I had a great dinner at El Greco about two months ago; you can read that previous post here. A couple of weeks ago, El Greco participated in Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares show on FOX, where the rather belligerent Ramsay comes to "rescue" a failing restaurant. He spends time in the restaurant, yells a bunch, makes some changes, and leaves -- all in the name of television ratings, I am sure. Or at least so I am told that's how it goes, as I have never watched the show. (I couldn't take all the yelling and insults he hurls on Hell's Kitchen.)

My dining companion wanted some good healthy Mediterranean food for lunch, so it was off to El Greco. Apparently we were the first diners for Saturday lunch, arriving a bit past 11:30 am.  We were immediately greeted and told to sit wherever we wished. As we sat, I could hear some yelling in the kitchen; something about "put the meat in the oven" and I could hear the word "dumbass" but don't know the exact context. I could hear the overtones of yelling or some sort of grumbling at least one other time during our meal. (I am fairly certain these were coming from the chef.)

Our greeter/server came right over, welcomed us, and introduced himself as Dustin. We started chatting about the newly designed menu, and he gave us a few tidbits about their experience. He said it was grueling, but he felt worth it in the end. The owner and chef, Jake, had actually applied to the show over 3 years ago on a whim, but didn't hear anything until 8 months ago. FOX sent a camera crew out, and they took a bit of test footage of the kitchen, and then back to what I presume would be the show's producers. Once El Greco was officially chosen for the makeover, each person who works for the restaurant had to fill out a 14 page questionnaire. The restaurant also had to sign a contract agreeing to abide by the new menu items. Previous customer favorites, like dolmas, were removed, and can no longer be served, and I believe he said they used to do catering, which currently they cannot do. No word on how long these freezes are in effect.

I really like the new look of the menus, very streamlined and clean; the previous was a bit cluttered. (At this writing, the old menu is still up on their website.)

The interior decor doesn't seem all that different, though there are now Greek statue head profiles painted on the walls, and everything is in white and blue. 

I ordered the lamb pita sandwich, and my friend the Greek salad with grilled shrimp. Unfortunately, Dustin came back to say the lamb wasn't ready yet. So I went with the gyro.

Once you got past the shrimp, there wasn't a whole lot to the salad. My friend, who has watched the show, said that Gordon is all about downsizing the portions and that seemed pretty evident with her salad. Also, she asked for no onions, and it did come with them, My gyro was okay...the meat a bit dry, and a little more bread than meat. When Dustin came to clear our plates, he asked how things were, and I told him it was on the dry side. He did apologize (again) for the lamb not being ready, as that was one of his favorites.

Overall, the menu looks decent, not that different than the old, with the exception of two new hummus appetizers, a chipotle and Hatch (New Mexico green) chile.  We were told they were proving to be very popular, but the thought of a green chile hummus in a Greek restaurant makes me cringe, sorry! Our server was great, but I'd say the jury's still out on the food changes at El Greco. The show is supposed to air in October.

El Greco

I've always enjoyed Greek food, but it's not something I've ever eaten a whole lot of, and there aren't a lot of Greek places in Austin. I have heard good things about El Greco, at 31st and Guadalupe, and it was finally time to go check it out with two of my girlfriends.

The place is a little more casual inside than I expected; they have a counter with a register, and perhaps they use that for order taking during lunch or busy times. Otherwise, it's a seat-yourself place, and there was once hostess/waitress managing the floor. She was warm and friendly from the start, and was patient with us as we chatted and looked at the menu. We all had a different glass of wine, and we started with the tiropita appetizer, phyllo dough filled with feta cheese. Unfortunately, I could tell from the moment they were brought out that they were anemic. They were undercooked, so there was not a great deal of flakiness to them, and the layers on the bottom were more raw than those on top. One of us commented that it needed a drizzle of olive oil. We noticed later that most of the other tables did in fact have a bottle of oil on them, but ours did not. We did eat the whole thing, but it needs some more time in the oven, for certain.

 

We decided to get a couple different dishes and just share everything. First came the pastitsio, also known as Greek lasagna. It's tubular noodles with seasoned ground beef, in a bechamel sauce. Not overly rich, it had nice flavor, and we got a Greek salad with it. Maybe a little disappointed that their Greek salad doesn't have nice chunks of feta cheese, but rather a sprinkling on top. The pita, while not necessarily necessary with a pasta dish, was very nice and soft.

Next was the Greek meat plate for two along with a bigger Greek salad, and  an order of "Greco peas" -- English peas in a very light and mild tomato sauce; quite tasty too.  Let's cut to the chase though, the meats were fantastic! From left to right in the picture you have: beeftekee, two lamb chops, pork souvlaki (kebab) and chicken souvlaki. 

The beeftekee is ground beef, mixed with herbs and spices, shaped into a loaf, and grilled. Well seasoned, and just a bit of feta on top. The lamb chops, while well-done, still had great lamb flavor, and I had no qualms about picking the bone up and eating it with my fingers. Both of the souvlakis were tender, moist, and grilled perfectly. Again, the meats are by far, the star of this show. On their website is a video segment on how they prepare the lamb chops -- cut them, soak (brine?), drain, marinate, grill, with the soak, drain, and marinate taking a couple hours each. Tasty though!

For dessert, how can you pass up baklava, especially when billed as "Chef Jake's grandmother's recipe"? This was in a spiral, with a lot of sweet syrup poured over top, so it kind of lost it's flakiness. It's interesting how many different forms baklava can take! I think I prefer mine with nice crisp layers, lasagna style, rather than rolled up or even shredded.

I would hope El Greco would update their website to accurately reflect the prices now being charged on the menu, and that the prices redacted on the printed menus at the restaurant would be filled in with the current rates. Also, I heard the waitress talking to the table next to us, saying they no longer serve breakfast because they didn't have enough business. It's still listed on the web, as is a coupon for free coffee with breakfast.  It is nice, though, that they have a gluten free menu online, as well as plenty of vegetarian options. Would be a shame though, to miss out on those meats.