Friday, April 12, 2013

#4 Estia



Go Greek or go home. I  was really excited to try Estia because I am a fan of Greek food. And by that I mean that I like feta cheese and pitas. So to someone who is pretty clueless on what exactly Greek food is, I was looking forward to trying something new. Estia is located on Broad & Locust, right near the Avenue of the Arts. They seem to attract a lot of theater go-ers because they have a reduced price "Theater Menu" for $30 for an appetizer, entree, and dessert. I loved the inside of Estia. The lighting was dimmed and it had a cozy feel with wooden walls and stone tiled ceilings. The restaurant just made me feel like I was in Greece. We got a booth on a raised section of the restaurant, so that was cute.


The menu items might as well have been in Greek. Oh wait, they were. Thankfully I brought my friend Katey who started to rattle off Greek words in perfect pronunciation like she's been a native speaker since birth. Katey and I lived across the hall from each other our freshman year of college and since then its been history!

One thing I have to say about Estia is that it is expensive. If you don't go with the $30 Theater Menu, entrees are about $45. Both being 2 broke girls living in the city, we decided it was most economical to order 4 appetizers to share. We started with a Romaine Salad (aka Cesar Salad). This side salad was definitely enough for 2 people to share. It had a nice lemon kick to it which I loved. We also got the Spanakopita. Kateys recommendation. It was a phyllo dough stuffed with leeks, scallions, spinach, and feta. Spinach, feta, sounded good to me. And it was delicious, but a bit salty. Is that a Greek thing? I don't know, but I would get it again.
 Our other appetizer was the Spread Pikilia. We got to choose 3 out of 4 spreads to have with pitas and some veggies. We decided on the Tzatziki which was yogurt, cucumber and dill. A little different than the Yogurt and Chive dip I usually get from Trader Joe's. Definitely my favorite of the 3. Next we got Htipiti which was roasted red peppers and feta cheese. This had a little spice to it but still really good. Finally, the Melitzano Salata which was basically roasted eggplant. My least favorite of the 3 and probably the healthiest (typical).
Finally, our last piece to the puzzle was the Yemista Kalamarakia. I was super excited about this because it was calamari stuffed with Greek cheeses. Two of my favorite things! But I guess I didn't read the menu well enough because much to my dismay the calamari was not fried. It was still very good, but we only ate 2 of 3, so we clearly didn't like it too much.  
I am happy to say that I am now obsessed with Greek food. Even though I just lightly dipped my foot into all that Greek food has to offer, next time I think I will dive in. Overall, Estia was great. The waiter was fantastic, Katey thinks he had a crush on us (she would.) which might have contributed to our wonderful service. I was a bit nervous to order just appetizers (sometimes places get annoyed if you do that) but our waiter was great about it and told us that our choices would definitely fill us up. And if not, we could always order something else (thankfully it didn't come to that).

1 salad + 3 apps + 2 glasses of wine= $79. Imagine if we got entrees? EEK! I guess the prices are well worth the food, the atmosphere, and the service. Thanks Estia for making my first Greek food experience so worthwhile! 


1 comment:

  1. Sounds worth trying. I think the calamari looks awesome.

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