| Kensington feels like a real neighbourhood. Both 10th Street N.W. and Kensington Road are narrow, allowing pedestrians to wander haphazardly, and there's a healthy mix of renters and homeowners crowding the surrounding streets looking for places to hang out. There's even a decent movie theatre – and now, finally, a good Greek restaurant.
The Broken Plate (302 - 10 St. N.W., phone 283-6300) has a warm urban feel. Its muted earth tones and high ceilings are a far cry from the whitewashed, blue-accented Cycladian look adopted by many of its counterparts, and there's even a fireplace. I also like the way the bar and the restaurant meld together – the bar forms the centrepiece of the restaurant. It's a place where you'd expect to run into someone you know digging into some skewers.
I enjoy Greek food just about any time, but I especially love good Greek food. The trick is not having too heavy a hand with the garlic, or else the food is overwhelmed by it and doesn't taste of anything else. The Broken Plate achieves the balance between lemon, garlic and fresh herbs so proficiently that you could easily be in Greece, rather than nestled across the street from the Carpenters' Union Hall.
We began with the appetizer platter ($19.95), and I'm pleased to report that everything tasted homemade. The spanakopita is less a pie and more a phyllo pastry bag, with tasty and fresh spinach filling. The keftedes (Greek meatballs) were about the size of a squash ball, deeply flavoured with spices, and served with a red pepper dip. The calamari was irregularly sized, a telltale sign that someone in the kitchen is chopping and breading squid rather than digging into a big bag. I was impressed with the platter – it's a hell of a lot better than others I've had, and is worth the price, especially for four people.
I also tried the melitzanosalata (eggplant salad, $5.25), which is chunky and rich with tomato – it’s divine on a piece of pita.
The Greek Feast ($49.95 for two) reflects what the kitchen can do: excellent grilled meat and well-prepared specialties. The moussaka was intensely flavoured with cinnamon and chock full of eggplant, while the jumbo prawns were only just done, so they retained some crispness. This is not easy to do, and prawns are often overcooked, but not at the Broken Plate.
The lamb chops were fantastic, as was the grilled pork, both having the same intoxicating scent of garlic, lemon and oregano. The accompanying chef's market vegetables featured broccoli florets, carrots and squash, lightly steamed and then combined with a bit of oil and some herbs. The fresh seasonal vegetables shows that the kitchen is doing all the preparation and cooking, and not taking any shortcuts.
For dessert, you can't go wrong with the Nutella and banana crepe – a Greek original which is heaven for chocolate-hazelnut-banana lovers , and is also a crazy, messy thing to eat.
The Broken Plate's wine list needs work, but this is nitpicking – really, you should be drinking copious quantities of Greek red wine, and you don't need a long list for that. I really liked the Broken Plate, which is the best type of neighbourhood place. If they opened one a little closer to my house, I'd have my own barstool. |
