| Fourth Street S.W. has been missing a Greek restaurant for ages, ever since Paros decamped for Airdrie, leaving nothing but memories of garlicky potatoes, sky blue walls and metal beakers of Boutari. At last, however, Greek cuisine has returned, courtesy of the Ouzo Greek Taverna (2005 B Fourth St. S.W., phone 229-1400).
The location that the Ouzo management has chosen is only moderately cursed – in recent years, it’s housed Garcia’s, a Dutch pancake house and the Istanbul Turkish restaurant, but the latter stuck around for a considerable time. Ouzo may have more staying power, if the crowds on a recent Saturday night are any indication. The place was packed.
I have a confession to make right at the beginning: I love good Greek food. The best of it is simple, refreshing and tasty; its ideal accompaniments are lots of red wine and good conversation. It’s not very complicated to make, but it’s very rewarding for the cook. That’s the secret of making Greek cuisine: don’t mess around with the food too much, let the ingredients speak for themselves, and diners will think you’re a genius.
The best thing about Ouzo is that some of the dishes, which in other places are pre-made or, worse, bought, are homemade here. The dolmades (vine leaves stuffed with rice) were irregularly shaped, and it was clear that these were hand-rolled by someone in the kitchen, rather than scooped out of a tin. The fragrant kibbeh balls were succulent and weren’t dried out. The roasted eggplant was tasty. All these items, plus olives, feta, red peppers, some home-sliced calamari and homemade hummus, all came on the Big, Fat Greek Appetizer Platter ($19.95), which is a successful way for everyone to try a little bit of everything without munching off someone else’s plate. The "big, fat" joke, though, is wearing a bit thin.
The main courses all come with your choice of rice or potatoes, and Greek salad or Caesar salad, and if the night we were there is any indication, you should not discount the Caesar. I think there may have been an ordering problem in the kitchen, because the Greek salad had a lot of romaine lettuce in it (we had an ongoing argument at our table as to whether lettuce belongs in a Greek salad at all), not very many olives, a few tomatoes and cucumbers, and grated feta on top. I recognize that it’s Calgary and it’s winter, but it felt as though the kitchen was running out of tomatoes and cucumbers.
Similarly, the vegetarian skewer ($11.95) had no feta on it, even though it had been advertised in the menu. When we pointed this out, we received a bowl of grated feta. To Ouzo’s credit, we weren’t charged for the vegetarian skewer. This is a new restaurant, so it gets a pass on this, but these kinks will have to be worked out.
The taverna lamb ($16.95) was slow-roasted in the Greek style, but I think it had been slightly overcooked because it was a bit tough; it was tasty and fragrant, however. The accompanying roasted potatoes were very scented and perfectly cooked. The moussaka ($13.95) had a thick-ish topping, lots of cinnamon-tasting eggplant, and was nice and nourishing on a cold night. The beef skewer ($14.95) was, as expected, tasty, but slightly chewy.
The highlight of our evening, without question, was the baklava ($4.95) – two large pieces of tall, honeyed, nut-filled pastry. It was almost too much, but it makes for the most decadent breakfast the next day. It’s worth going to Ouzo for the baklava alone. |
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