Nestled in the middle of a little plaza along Travis street is Ziziki’s, a fantastic little Greek restaurant. Well, their website says it’s, “Mediterranean with Greek and Italian specialties”, but honestly the entire menu looked Greek to me (ha!). Ok, sorry about that. Ahem, moving along.

I could tell from the moment I walked in that I was going to like this place. The decor is attractive as are the waitstaff. There’s plenty of seating available just out the front door, cafe style, but this was a Saturday night and it was busy. Hungry and not wanting to wait, we took a charming little table just across from the bar. Now, I haven’t had much Greek food in my life. In fact, other than maybe one or two occasions before, my entire experience of Greek food has been chomping on gyros and satisfying my sweet tooth with some baklava.

Seeing as how I was starving, an appetizer was in order. Amongst many appealing choices, two stood out as an appetizer I’d like to have from a Greek restaurant: The Artichoke Dip & Pita Bread, and the Spanakopita. Looking ahead on the menu I realized I had another opportunity to try the spanakopita, so the artichoke dip with pita bread it was. Now, don’t think this is some pedestrian artichoke dip like you’d get at Olive Garden. This is a hummus that was garlicky and creamy and perfect with the fresh pita bread. As a bonus, it even came with some whole kalamata olives! And, as my dinner companion observed, “I don’t trust a person that won’t eat olives.” Well said, my friend.

Ok, I was saying something about spanakopita earlier. One of the menu choices was The Greek Gods Platter. Not only did that look enticing on name alone, the food that actually constituted this platter looked delicious as well. A lamb souvlaki (the “Grecian hamburger”), some spanakopita, and a healthy serving of pastichio - a lasagna-like dish with a sneak ingredient that had me guessing at it about half the night. At first I thought it was cinnamon. My friend had a taste and said, “No, that’s just the cumin”. But I didn’t accept that. Eventually I figured it out with helpful verification from our waitress: nutmeg. Anyway, all three of these preparations were just amazing. The souvlaki was like a gourmet gyro. It was like the difference between getting a Taco Bell taco vs. tacos al carbon made with ribeye steak. I absolutely adored the souvlaki. My spanakopita was delicious (I love the texture of phyllo) and went fantastic with the marinated onions that rounded out my plate.

Earlier in the evening while scanning the wine menu, we knew we’d need something with a little bit of backbone. After all, greek food is full of strong flavors. Lamb. Olives. Garlic. Those sorts of things. Our lovely waitress helped us out with some taster glasses of the two we were debating over - a pinot noir and a cabernet sauvignon. After the taste test we chose the cab - a 2004 vintage from B.R. Cohn. I’m happy to report it delivered, standing up strong to the bold flavors of the evening’s cuisine.

Now, dessert. I couldn’t very well come to a greek restaurant and not have some baklava. Happily for me, they have some special baklava. How special? Well, you get two layers of it surrounded by vanilla ice cream. That’s right, baklava ice cream cake. Of course, we wanted a coffee drink of some type sort with our dessert. Espresso? Regular coffee? Oh wait, what’s this the menu is whispering to me? Greek coffee? I honestly don’t remember the entire composition of this drink, but it did include Bailey’s, Kahlua, and Chambord. Oh, and coffee. Man what tasty beverage.

Long story short? I’m in love with Ziziki’s. I can’t wait to come back.