image via yelp
Where: 310 NE 72nd street
Hours: 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday
Food: Greek
Mykonos Greek Grill was a lunch stop before spending the day at Green Lake Park for me. It was a good decision too. Looking for a quiet day to spend rowing and interviewing only a few people, I wanted a quiet laid back meal. No messing around, waiting to be seated or dealing with a loud party of people laughing uproariously over drinks.
Mykonos provided this and offered me my favorite kind of food: Greek! (If you’re not familiar with Greek food, Anthony Bourdain does a pretty good job exploring the region’s cuisine) It is a glorified family restaurant with simple decor, a view of the houses surrounding the park, prompt service, and warm comforting food.
Owned by Taki Skepetaris and Bob Kokkovas, Mykonos offers a wide array of food actually, contrary to many Greek restaurants offering only hummus, pita, lentils, gyros, and spankopita.
The rule of the thumb seems to be offer the basic tzatziki and feta covered favorites and you can call it good. Mykonos on the other hand, offers more creative items including, tyrokafteri, meltizanes tiganites, fried egg plant, skordalia, and even greek style sandwiches and kebabs
The only thing missing was calimari but that isn’t the kind of place. Rather, picture your favorite American dinner, not I-Hop or Dennys, but the bistro up the street from your house, and you will be hitting Mykonos right on the nose.
Only two other parties were seated on this Sunday afternoon slightly after 1:00 p.m. and we were seated right away at our table of choice by the window. We surveyed the menu and ordered.
Appetizer: Hummus and Pita
The hummus was served on a round dish with sprinkled cayan on top, tomato slices along the round border, and a lemony zest that heightened the rich garbanzo flavor of the hummus. However, the pita was the real dish winner. It was warm, fluffy, and just tasted better than your average store bought pita. It was evident it was made from scratch and had just come out of the oven if not made that day then, reheated before serving in the oven and not a microwave like a chain restaurant.
Entree: Vegetarian Greek Gyro
The gyro was so huge it needed an extra piece of parchment paper wrapped around it’s pita outer shell to keep it all together. Even still, it was delicious, if not messy (the waitress provided extra napkins just in case). The parchment paper only lasted so long, and the idea of eating a gyro with a knife and fork like my neater counterpart is just not an option when its so much better to just pick up the tzatziki covered dish with your own two hands. Sure, some cucumbers fell out, but it was enjoyable. Sporting the same pita from the appetizer, cucumbers, peppers, tzatziki sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes and a length of about a foot. It may be too big for some but they are great about providing boxes to take extras home.
image via yelp
Dessert: Baklava
Okay, this was good but not the best. It was flaky and warm like American pies and had a rich caramel and nougat filling but the same filling was served way to hard. Order it if you want something great tasting but be prepared for a crown breaker if not eaten in small bites and carefully.
We ended our meal with ample leftovers for dinner, great service, and full stomachs for a day at Greenlake. It was definitely a place to come back to,even replacing my old Capitol Hill favorite for Greek food.
Green Lake Days 