It's high time for a Greek revival.
Vancouver may be on top of several restaurant trends, but when it comes to Greek cuisine we're really scraping the bottom of the pan-Hellenic barrel.
Some say gourmet Greek is a culinary paradox that lacks any solid foundation to build upon. I don't buy it.
Montreal has Milos (now expanded to Manhattan and Athens), where the fresh langoustines, thyme-blossom honey and artisanal ingredients are all imported from small villages in the homeland.
Elsewhere in New York, you will find haute Greek restaurants reinventing the classics with tiny cubes of feta-and-chili-dusted raw tuna and elegant tasting menus.
Even as far away as Melbourne, Australia, culinary avant-gardists are spinning Greek salad into sorbet.
It's only here in Vancouver that we're stuck with all the same old, tired clichés: tacky tavernas adorned with plaster columns and dangling fishing nets that serve overcooked souvlaki with the standard dry rice and greasy roast potatoes. Blech.
Enter Piato Estiatorio, a stylish new restaurant on West 4th that gives traditional Greek food a fresh facelift - at budget-friendly prices, to boot.
I'm tempted to cry "Opa!" but it seems out of place in this polished, black-and-white room with its crisp tablecloths and soft candlelight.
It feels very posh, especially with all the well-coiffed women sitting nearby draped in their chunky silver jewellery and pashmina shawls. Is this Kitsilano or West Vancouver?
Then a rumpled gentleman in baggy track pants rolls in and receives a warm greeting from the staff. We suddenly feel much more at home.
Piato is a family affair, run by two young brothers-in-law whose parents own Olympia Pizza and several downtown nightclubs. As second-generation restaurateurs, their goal is to create a modern restaurant without betraying their roots.
The comfortably swanky room is a good start. So is the bar, which offers an intriguing cornucopia of Mythos beer, retsina spritzers, creative ouzo cocktails and uncommon wines.
The vintages are all Greek to me. And our waitress, although very courteous, is obviously no sommelier. Instead of faking her way through our questions, she brings over a flight of free samples and lets us taste for ourselves. Nicely handled.
Dinner starts off predictably enough, with a complimentary basket of warm pita wedges and crusty grilled bread with a garlicky black-olive tapenade for dipping.
Piato hasn't completely abandoned the all-star hit parade. The kitchen offers calamari ($9), fried or lightly grilled and gently tossed with lemon and shallots. The latter could use a little less chew.
There is souvlaki on the menu, but only one choice (pork and lamb, for $15). And it's served with pita, tzatziki and tomato salad, not the usual rice pilaf and roast potatoes.
Innovation comes courtesy of several regional specialties and traditional dishes - quail, swordfish, anchovies - that you don't see here very often.
For something a little different, we tried a trio of soups ($7). In addition to the ubiquitous white-bean fasolada and egg-lemon-chicken avgolemono, this generously sized tasting sampler includes the less well-known fakes, a richly herbed lentil soup with deep flavour and lots of earthy goodness.
Dakos ($8), a Cretan bruschetta of sorts, is made with toasted rounds of barley rusk. Saites ($6), a phyllo pastry-wrapped spinach pie without any eggs or dairy, hails from Sparta. It's thinner and lighter than your average spanakopita, though a tad oily.
Although these meze plates are meant for sharing, the oversized dinnerware makes it awkward. The square plates and platters barely fit on a table for two.
We fare better with our mains. Salt cod ($15) is moist and flaky and lovingly wrapped in a light golden crisp. The dish comes with red and yellow roasted beets and pale-green skordalia (puréed potatoes) infused with oodles of garlic and fruity olive oil.
Moussaka, layered with short rib in place of ground beef, is a truly inspired twist on the original. It has a velvety texture and subtle sweetness - and only costs $11.
Granted, these aren't the big, fat portions ladled out by most Greek restaurants. That's fine by me. Who needs the indigestion?
You can always add one of several tantalizing sides that include sautéed horta greens, spinach risotto and Greek-style polenta with kefalotiri cheese (all $5). Gigantes, big meaty butter beans baked in a savoury tomato sauce with a touch of hot pepper, were so tenderlicious (and plentiful), I took the leftovers home and ate them for breakfast.
Dessert is a delectable slice of galaktoboureko ($7), a thick custard pie, and a shot of ouzo infused with saffron ($8.50), which gives the drink a warm, honeyed kick.
We linger for a while and admire the wall art: old black-and-white family snapshots from the 1960s, blown up huge. In one, a bunch of crazy teenagers twist the night away as one of them strums a bouzouki. In another, wizened old men smile into the camera as they raise their glasses to a juicy spit of meat on the picnic table.
The photos are really fun.
So why the glum faces here and now? The two young owners are the only downer about this dinner. One has been standing behind the bar all night, arms crossed and scowling. The other is sternly hunched over a computer at a back table, sighing out loud.
Well, I guess they have reason to be worried. It's a horrible time for restaurateurs everywhere. And the early reviews of this restaurant were scathing.
But the good news is that they have obviously learned from their mistakes and turned things around. Lighten up, boys: Piato is a delightful neighbourhood restaurant that fills a big niche. You've done your homeland proud.
Piato Estiatorio: 1835 West 4th Ave.; 604-568-2929
