Tag Archives: Greek

Alpha Bakery

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If your native language was Italian or Spanish and you aspired to start up a top-line, first-class bakery and food shop, you might consider naming it “Numero Uno” – but if your native language was Greek, you might opt for “Alpha.” And Alpha Bakery & Mediterranean Marketplace has succeeded in achieving that status.

Backstory: It’s the inception of food tour season and I always return for multiple visits to each neighborhood we cover to see what’s new and what’s departed. I was on the hunt for some seriously needed newcomers for my Flavors of Little Levant ethnojunket in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and I spotted Alpha at 7717 5th Ave.

Predominantly Greek products lined the shelves, but it was the ample array of freshly prepared dishes and baked goods that caught my eye. The Tolis family opened Alpha Bakery last October, but they’re hardly newcomers to the kitchen: they had been professional pastry chefs in Greece 25 years ago before they emigrated to America.

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Shown here is their Fried Codfish and Garlic Mashed Potatoes (Mπακαλιάρος και Σκορδαλιά – or Bakaliaros and Skordalia if the alphabet is Greek to you). Crispy exterior, substantial interior paired with the classic accompaniment.


The highlight that day was their Bougatsa (Mπουγάτσα) – flaky phyllo dough filled sweet semolina custard and dusted with cinnamon and sugar. Never had semolina custard? Definitely give this version a try.


Inside view revealing the delectable filling – and despite any expectation, it’s not excessively sweet. Worth a trip.

Alpha is truly a welcome addition to the neighborhood and yes, of course we’ll stop by on my Little Levant ethnojunket. See you soon!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Ethnojunket: The Flavors of Little Levant in Bay Ridge

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An ethnojunket is a food-focused walking tour through one of New York City’s many ethnic enclaves; my mission is to introduce you to some delicious, accessible, international treats (hence, “ethno-”) that you’ve never tasted but soon will never be able to live without (hence, “-junkie”).

The Flavors of Little Levant in Bay Ridge
Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge is home to so many Middle Eastern restaurants and bakeries that it should have earned the moniker “Little Levant” long ago; the influx of Lebanese, Yemeni, and other Middle Eastern and Arab Americans makes it the ideal neighborhood for an ethnic food tour. (Did you know that Bay Ridge and Beirut are cognates? Just kidding.)

But there’s a lot more to it than that: the locale was formerly home to a thriving Norwegian community and now welcomes shops and markets representing Greece, Mexico, Poland and more – and our mission is to sample the flavors of all of them! It will be an afternoon of treats and sweets as we make our way through Little Levant: Lebanese manakish, Middle Eastern shawarma and toum, cheesy pide and chocolate baklava from Turkey, spanakopita from Greece, sweets and unique mastic ice cream plus lots more.

Some photos from past visits:
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Details:
The cost of any tour is $95 per person (cash only, please) and includes a veritable cornucopia of food so bring your appetite: you won’t leave hungry, and you will leave happy!

Tours usually begin at 1pm and typically run about 3 to 4 hours (depending upon the neighborhood).

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Simply send me a note below and tell me when you’d like to experience a food adventure and which ethnojunket you’re interested in – I’ll bet we can find a mutually convenient day! I’ll email you with details.

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Please note: While I generally have a pretty good idea of what ingredients go into whatever we’re consuming, I can’t vouch for salt or sugar or gluten or so many other clandestine buzz killers. If you have any dietary restrictions or food allergies, please be mindful of that and take responsibility for them just as you would if you were dining under any other circumstances. (I’m a foodie, not a doctor!) By the same token, if something troublesome happens to you along the way, I can’t take the liability for that any more than if you were just walking along the street or in a shop by yourself. (I’m a writer, not a lawyer!) In other words, when you join one of my ethnojunkets, you are taking complete responsibility for your own welfare and safety.

What I can do is bring you a few hours of entertaining, educational, and delicious fun!

Questions? Feel free to write to me directly at rich[at]ethnojunkie[dot]com.

Ekmek Kataifi

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You’ll see it as Εκμέκ Καταΐφι in Greek circles and Ekmek Kadayıfı in Turkish.

The Greek version (shown here) starts with a layer of crispy baked shredded dough that’s saturated in sweet syrup then topped with rich, dense custard and crowned with kaymak (clotted cream) or whipped cream and a scattering of chopped nuts.

In Turkey, the base is bread pudding (ekmek means bread in Turkish) soaked in syrup and finished off with kaimak.

This irresistible indulgence came from Greek Bakaliko, 7615 5th Ave, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and yes, it’s one of the stops on my Flavors of Little Levant and Little Yemen ethnojunket.

You know you wanna.
 
 

Cooking in the Time of COVID – A Mediterranean Melange

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Instagram Post 5/30/2020

 
👨‍🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨‍🍳

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A Mediterranean mélange in the service of using up the last bits of saladworthy candidates from the pantry and fridge. Of primary significance, I’ve finally finished off the last of the dried chickpeas! 🙌

The slightly smaller spheres are Lebanese moghrabieh which are similar to their more diminutive Israeli couscous cousins. These wonderful starchy pearls deserve far better than the short shrift I’ve given them here – I almost wish I had left them in the pantry to star in some future culinary legerdemain. There’ll be a next time. In this case, I toasted them first to bring out their latent nuttiness; toasted almonds and currants made a considerable contribution as well.

From the refrigerator, I exhumed some jarred red pepper strips, Italian fried green peppers and agrodolce sun dried red peppers along with Moroccan pickled eggplant, Greek black olives and creamy feta cheese. Plated the medley over baby arugula and dressed it with olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, za’atar and sumac.

Tasted so much better than it looked!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
 
 

Cooking in the Time of COVID – Homemade Hummus

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Instagram Post 5/25/2020

 
👨‍🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨‍🍳

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Partially homemade, so I guess it counts: the hummus is my own recipe that starts with dried then reconstituted chickpeas rather than their canned kin because I think I get a creamier result. (Anyone out there either concur or disagree?) Keeping the hummus humming are a rainbow of teeny tomatoes and some particularly rich Greek feta cheese.

The layered, griddled flatbread to the left is a signature North African work of culinary art found throughout Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Called msmen (you might see m’semen), it’s square in shape and commonly served for breakfast with butter, honey, jam or cheese but can also be found as a snack stuffed with ground meat or vegetables. If you see it anywhere, you should definitely check it out.
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
 
 

Taverna Kos

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Instagram Post 2/16/2019

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With the nouveau communal aura of a private club at long last turned public, Taverna Kos, the restaurant wing of the Pancoan Society Hippocrates, has opened its doors to the hoi polloi. Entering at 41-19 23rd Ave in Astoria, Queens, we found the atmosphere as casual and comfortable as an old sandal, an adumbration of homestyle Greek cuisine.

[1] Octopus (χταπόδι). Perfectly tender and utterly delectable. One of two top notch appetizers, the other being…

[2] Loukaniko (λουκάνικο), the amazing sausage that’s often overlooked unless you’re among the cognoscenti or Greek. Excellent, with that all-important char, beefy and spicy; I tasted leeks, Greek oregano, and whole coriander seed. That lemon isn’t there just for show; give it a squeeze.

[3] We also ordered Pikilia (ποικιλία) which means a variety of choices, in this case a trio of dips: spicy feta with persuasive overtones of olive oil; skordalia (σκορδαλιά), often overwhelmed by garlic but which here had an unimpeachable balance between that and the puréed potatoes; and a demure tzatziki, barely herby and scarcely garlicky.

[4] Kalamari. We voted between fried and grilled. We ordered fried. I lost.

[5] Saganaki (σαγανάκι) is a luscious appetizer of fried kefalograviera, a deliciously intense Greek sheep’s cheese, melty and gooey, often set aflame before serving and sometimes topped with an egg. This rendition wasn’t up to snuff; maybe it had been away from the fire too long.
 
 

Tsirosalata – Titan Foods

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Instagram Post 2/15/2019

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Since my friend and I were poking through Astoria prior to lunch at a nearby Greek taverna (more about that in an upcoming post), a visit to my favorite Greek market, Titan Foods at 2556 31st St, seemed a fitting appetizer. (Pro tip: the Greek pronunciation is tee-TAHN, stress on the final syllable.) It’s my go-to place for their overwhelming selection of feta and other cheeses, unparalleled olives, delicious homemade baked goods, and any Greek comestibles one could possibly crave. There, amid many tried and true delicacies in the refrigerator case, was something I had never tasted, tsirosalata. Needless to say, that was reason enough for me to buy some.

Tsirosalata (τσιροσαλάτα) is smoked mackerel preserved in oil, so it’s a triple threat: mackerel is a strong tasting fish to begin with, smoking it only doubles down on the intensity, and anything preserved in oil that super dense probably has the staying power of the Parthenon. Truth be told, it was a bit much even for me. Clearly, tsirosalata is not intended to be consumed straight out of the container unescorted, so my first action was to marinate it; I used a light vinegar with some sugar, onion and dill and let it luxuriate just until it capitulated.

Satisfied with its newly docile demeanor, my next step was to dress it. Thinly sliced cucumber and red onion, black and green Greek olives, fresh dill and lemon wedges were impeccable companions, but the capers and pink peppercorns made it perfect.
 
 

The World’s Fare – Avli

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Instagram Post 5/9/2018

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🇬🇷 At last month’s World’s Fare in Queens, Avli, the “Little Greek Kitchen” in West Hempstead, brought out a number of specials like Yiayia’s Yiouvetsi, a saucy orzo and veal dish that tasted like something your Greek grandma used to lovingly prepare, but it was the grilled octopus 🐙 shown here that reached out to me. Mixed with red onion, seasoned with EVOO and red wine vinegar, and sprinkled with a hit of Greek oregano, the tender octopus was delicious. No wonder they called it “a neighborhood favorite!”