Porgy & Bess (and Ethos)

Tonight's dinner companions were RRR & Haggis. RRR was craving Greek and chose Ethos, a delightful neighborhood place in Murray Hill.

Not sure what the wine was except to say Greek since as usual we deferred to RRR's particular tastebuds and our waiter's suggestions - all I can say was it was Greek and it was good! A balance of fruit and enough body to satisfy all of our tastes.

We started with the Pikilia Spread, an assortment of four spreads: tsatziki, taramosalata (red caviar whipped with lemon & extra virgin olive oil), melitzanolsalata (roasted eggplant whipped w/garlic, parsley, herbs, lemon & oil) and skordalia (whipped potato, garlic & extra virgin olive oil) --- my favorite was the eggplant but I did find the taramosalata especially tasty, a bit of a salty anchovy-like taste on the back end versus the smooshiness of caviar I was expecting. Garlic was certainly in full force on all spreads, so might not want to order this one on a first date!

We followed our app with the holovi metsovo salad: grilled potatoes, onions, extra virgin olive oil, lemon and Greek wine vinegar with mesculun greens. The onions were perfectly softened and the potatoes had enough crispiness on the outer skin to add an extra level of texture to this herby tasty mezze.

Haggis enjoyed her thalasina on a skewer (shrimp, scallops, swordfish w/tomatoes, peppers & onions w/lemon, olive oil and rice), RRR had solomos ambelofilo (salmon w/herbs wrapped in grapevine leaves & oven roasted).

Not to brag but I had the pick of the night, literally! Our waiter who resembled a portly Tony Danza, escorted me over to the fresh fish case with the day's catch sitting on ice just waiting to be picked out. I chose a one pound tsipoura (aka porgy) which was charcoal grilled to perfection, filleted tableside and served with a lemon infused oil which was not needed - the fish was moist and tasty enough on it's own. This came with a side of char-grilled, oily, garlicky broccoli and more potatoes a la our salad from earlier in the night.

My glowing review of our waiter's technique in deboning the fish may have been partly responsible for our complimentary desert, a custard-like pastry wrapped in philo dough - wish I could tell you the name but again food coma and wine caught up to me at this point.

Once again, we found a wonderful neighborhood place to take a date, your friends, your parents or your Greek friends. Good food, good service, good prices and fresh well-prepared ingredients. And if you pick your porgy (or snapper or orata as the case may be) you are in for an extra special treat!