According to popular travel Web sites, roundtrip tickets from Charlotte to Athens, Greece, cost anywhere from $800 to $3,700. Fortunately, there’s no need to travel that far – or spend that much – for a taste of all that’s great about Greek food.

Four years ago, the Photopoulos family, owners of Charlotte’s French Quarter restaurant, opened the Greek Isles Restaurant as an answer to customers’ requests for authentic Greek food in the Queen City. Armed with a cookbook full of family recipes, they developed a menu of traditional Greek fare made with a host of imported ingredients. From their famous flaming saganaki to sweet, sticky baklava, every dish is made from scratch.

With so many Greek-owned restaurants in the area, I’m not sure why it took so long for someone to feature real Greek cuisine. I’m just happy Toula, Panos and their family took the culinary leap to showcase their Greek heritage. The restaurant’s well-versed waitstaff and traditional Greek background music only add to the experience.

First up, apps
Take one glance at the menu and you’ll be tempted to order several starters. But Greek Isles’ portions are plentiful and it’s easy to make a meal of these. So if you’re thinking about an entrée and dessert, limit your party to one or two and plan to come back another time for more.

For a truly spectacular start, try the saganaki. Here, a sharp, aged imported goat cheese called kasseri is lightly battered then sautéed in rich, fruity olive oil. It’s brought to the table, doused with a shot of brandy and flamed. To serve, scoop the hot melted cheese, bathed in a mix of warm liquor and acidic lemon, onto soft, warm slices of pita bread. I’m not sure how to translate “comfort food” into Greek, but just one taste of saganaki makes a flavorful interpretation of the term.

As an alternative, try an appetizer-size portion of stuffed grape leaves. For something even more unusual, order the tender, marinated octopus, called octopodi. The seafood is marinated with extra virgin olive oil and Greek herbs then lightly grilled. It simply melts in your mouth. Chef Greg Photopoulos grills some 200 to 250 pounds of whole octopi every week – more of the tender cephalopod, according to his seafood wholesaler, than any other restaurant in the Carolinas.

Cold starters are just as good but less dramatic. The creamy tzatziki dip is a Greek standard served with everything from gyros to Greek fries. Order it on its own or in combination with other dips and spreads such as taramasalata, a salty, red caviar mousse; skordalia, a cold mashed-potato-and-garlic spread; and my two favorites: melitzanosalata, a roasted eggplant spread, and htipiti, a Greek pimento cheese of sorts, made by blending rich feta with roasted hot peppers and extra virgin olive oil. All are outstanding, and in fact, Greek Isles’ dips and spreads have become so popular that they are available at the restaurant in bulk – as are salad dressings and marinades – for at-home entertaining.

From avgolemono to zimarika
The menu continues for pages offering everything from avgolemono, a chicken soup made with lemon, egg and orzo, to zimarika, pastas available for lunch and dinner. Of the three pasta preparations listed, I highly recommend the Santorini, freshly made pasta with imported olives, fresh tomatoes, capers, oregano, shallots, olive oil and a bit of spinach.

Other entrees include traditional kabobs of filet mignon, chicken, tuna, shrimp or pork. Seafood dishes include tender, grilled tuna steak served with rice pilaf and a side of giant lima beans and spinach; salmon; snapper; and a lightly fried, salted cod called bacalao. The cod was good, although a tad too salty for my taste, and was served with a delicious side of cold, marinated – not pickled – beets.

The Greek Isles’ chicken dishes look delicious and are featured during lunch and dinner. On our first lunch visit, Panos stopped by our table just long enough to suggest we order the chicken special. “I hear they are licking the bowls clean,” the charming patriarch told us with a wink and a smile. I had already ordered the gyro sandwich (roasted ground lamb and beef mixed with spices) but saw the chicken at an adjacent table, and as its aroma wafted toward me, I wished I had taken him up on the suggestion.

Other traditional Greek specialties include thick, rich, squares of Greek casseroles such as mousaka and pastitsio, eggplant and pasta dishes, respectively. Each is topped with a thick layer of light béchamel and cheese before baking. Spanakopita, or spinach pie, is another dinner entrée, as is the arni psito, a slow-roasted leg of lamb, wonderfully flavored but a bit tough. The youvetsi, a braised lamb shank cooked in white wine with onions and tomatoes, served over a bit of orzo in a custom-made Greek Isles clay pot, is a tenderer, but just as flavorful, choice.

So sweet
Mom Toula lets her husband and son Greg do most of the cooking – except for desserts. “That’s Mom’s territory,” Greg says. The list of glyka, or sweets, includes three of my favorites. All are super-size portions, too big for even the table to share, so plan on taking home leftovers.

Baklava, the traditional layered phyllo-dough sweetened with walnuts, honey and cinnamon, tops my list, but the biggest surprise was the delicious galaktoboureko, a light, almost cheesecake-like, lemon custard sandwiched between layers of phyllo and served with a warm honey glaze. Simply heaven. For fun, order the loukoumades, a pile of Greek doughnut puffs drizzled with honey.

Great news
If it’s been a while since you’ve sampled the Greek Isles, know the restaurant is now a totally smoke-free facility. Also, now that the CATS LYNX Blue Line light-rail is up and running, the restaurant will offer specials for those who want to eat Greek and then ride the train to uptown entertainment and sports events.

Well-known Charlotte restaurant critic, food writer, cooking instructor and connoisseur of food and wine, Heidi Billotto writes "The Charlotte Weekly: Culinary Corner," a restaurant review or food feature that appears weekly. Contact Heidi with questions and restaurant, food or story ideas by email at heidi@thecharlotteweekly.com.

This article first appeared in "The Charlotte Weekly" on April 11, 2008. "The Charlotte Weekly" is a free, locally owned, independent newspaper that's "About the Community, For the Community," available every Thursday in North and South Charlotte and Uptown.

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