Valentine’s Dinner at Athos

Happy Valentine’s Day! Especially to Chris, who is my Valentine today! 🙂

We celebrated V-day a bit early this year since tonight I have class and Chris has soccer. Last night we went to Athos Greek Restaurant for dinner! Chris got reservations for two. This place was really nice inside and I wasn’t expecting it to be so classy. The lighting was dim–perfect for a romantic dinner! The only downside I saw were the placement of some of the tables. We were almost on top of the neighboring couple. Too close for comfort! (Think: Cheesecake factory style.)

Everything on the menu looked amazing. We started by ordering beverages. Chris got a beer (from NY) and I ordered a wine. Confession: it was a Greek wine. I strayed from the Green Challenge for the first time since beginning it in October! I figured I rarely go to a Greek restaurant, so I ordered some Greek wine (there was no NY wine on the menu, otherwise I would have ordered it.) I went with a Greek Red: Agiorgitiko, Kourtaki, Attica, “Elegant and medium-bodied, with a core of fresh berries”. It was light and not too sweet. I loved it!

I tried adjusting my camera settings accordingly, buy the lighting was just not right for food photography! It was dark in there.

Chris and I ordered a few appetizers, Feta Cheese Plate: “Imported  Feta, Kalamata Olives topped with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Oregano”, and the Spanakopita: “Spinach, Leeks, Feta Cheese and Dill, Wrapped in Phyllo”.

Feta Cheese Plate; the feta was some of the best feta cheese I’ve ever had! It was salty, but that is how I like it! It tasted delicious with the fresh pita bread they served.

Fresh bread and a sweet red dipping sauce

Spanakopita; I’ve only had spanakopita a few times, in my college dining hall (random?), and this was excellent! The crust was flaky, and crispy on the bottom (almost burnt, but not too bad) and the spinach filling was excellent. The appetizer came with two pieces, so we each had one.

For my main course I ordered the Vegetarian Piatela: “Chefs selection of Vegetarian Menu Items”. These included: 

Gigantes: “Giant Lima Beans Baked with Tomatoes, Onion, Carrots and Celery”

Dolmathakia: “Hand Rolled Grape Leaves Stuffed with Rice and Seasoned with Greek Herbs and Mint” (one of my favorite dishes!)

Kolokithokeftedes: “Pan Fried Zucchini, Onion, Dill and Feta Cheese Fritters”

Papoutsaki Melitsana:  “Baby Eggplant Stuffed with Onions, Garlic, Fresh Tomato and Cheese”

There were also fresh vegetables on the plate including potatoes, beets, broccoli and carrots.  The lima bean dish was delicious! I never would have thought to make a dish where lima beans were the star. The sauce they were in was really tasty. I also really enjoyed the stuffed eggplant and the zucchini fritter. Actually, I loved everything on this massive plate. I ate about half the eggplant, the zucchini fritter, the veggies, the lima beans and 1 grape stuffed grape leaf and saved the left for lunch today! 🙂 I was really impressed with my meal!

We also had to get dessert, since I definitely saved room. One thing was calling my name, the Baklava: “Phyllo Pastry layered with Walnuts and Almond, then Glazed with Honey”. It was awesome, but a bit hard to cut with my fork. Baklava is one of my favorite desserts that I never, ever, treat myself to, until Valentine’s Day, that is. 🙂

Chris got the baklava cheesecake, which came out with excellent presentation. They even have the name of the restaurant on there!

The service at Athos was also really great–they took checked our coats and even one of the owners or manager came to check on us to see how our experience was. I definitely give it an A+. Nice job, Chris, for picking Athos! I had a wonderful dinner with my incredible boyfriend!

Hope you all have a great Valentine’s Day! 🙂