Samos

How is it that I've lived in Baltimore for [many many] years and never went to Samos? We don't get to Greektown very often, and the last few times it was to dine at Ikaros. Ikaros is good, but we discovered that it is not Samos.

We wanted to eat everything, so we did. There were three of us, but we ordered enough food for 5 or 6. First was the trio of dips; from the five options, we chose the taramasalata, or fish roe dip, tzatziki, and olive tapenade. They came with a smattering of crudites and a pile of addictive toasted pita triangles. Oh, the pita. I could have just eaten that and been happy.

But we also ordered the grilled octopus, which came with a sprightly salad of tomatoes, red onion, green olives, and the evil chickpea (which were easy enough for me to pick out). And more pita. The char flavor on the cephalopod was quite excellent.

We also had the spinach pie, which was nicely flaky but not as thick with spinach and feta as some other places. It was good though.

We also tried some souvlaki. My brother debated with the waitress between the pork souvlaki served sandwich-style or merely skewered. I convinced him that we had enough pita on the table. Still, when I ordered one pork skewer and one of shrimp, our waitress assumed the pork should be the pita-wrapped version. It was actually a very tasty sandwich (is it a sandwich, technically?) The four shrimp at $7.75 seemed a bit skimpy, but they were excellent. And came with pita.

We also had the lamb chops, which seemed pricey at three for $25, but they were so juicy and delicious, I can deal with the cost. Plus they came with a small Greek salad, a pile of potatoes and veg, and of course, more pita.

I couldn't resist the Greek green beans, which were so so good.

Oink! We finished most of the food, apart from some of the veg and a pile of pita triangles, and we ordered dessert, too. I was in the mood for galaktoboureko, a custard-filled filo concoction topped with cinnamon and honey. My brother ordered the same.

Mr Minx got the baklava. Both desserts were served warm in large, shareable portions, each a steal at only $4. Delicious. But probably too much food for me. Or any normal mortal.

I ate too much, but everything I ate made me happy. And isn't that the most important part of a meal?

Samos is cash-only, BYOB, so be forewarned. There is an ATM on premises though. Also, they don't take reservations, so if you like to eat at peak dinnertime, be prepared to wait. We old folks arrived at 5pm and had no problem getting a table. However, we also had to contend with multiple families with very small children, who, though well-behaved, were also very vocal. Good thing they were cute.

Samos
600 Oldham St
Baltimore, MD 21224
http://samosrestaurant.com

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Cypriana

When Cypriana was downtown, sprinkled here and there in office buildings and in the University of Maryland hospital, they specialized in things like kebabs and salads. I loved their Greek salad, the typical inauthentic pile of lettuce with cucumbers and tomatoes, topped with a generous amount of feta cheese and a cup of creamy tarragon dressing on the side. The dressing really made it.

A few years back, they closed their fast casual restaurants and opened a full-service place in the Broadview apartments, former home to the venerable French restaurant Jeannier's, among others. I'm not sure why we put off going for so long, but this spring we finally paid Cypriana a visit. It was a pleasant evening, so we asked to sit on the patio, which may or may not have been a good idea. The restaurant's patio is divided into two areas, one more loungy, and the other for dining. After we were seated, we noticed a lot of musical tables and chairs being played by a trio of people who were apparently hosting a graduation party. They never seemed particularly satisfied with the number of tables pushed together or the chairs arranged around them, and the whole thing got uncomfortably close to where we were seated. As in, perhaps one of us would get smacked with a heavy metal table or chair. Fortunately, seating arrangements were resolved before I felt we had to move out of the way.

But then the kids happened.

There must have been a large party inside, one with many small children. Many small children who decided to run around outside on the patio. A patio that is actually a large balcony. Had any of those children been curious enough to climb the short wall to see what was on the other side of the balcony (a drop into a courtyard), there may have been a tragedy. One parent was outside briefly, sitting on a chair and playing with his phone while the children ran in and out of not only the dining room entrance, but also the ramp into the kitchen entrance. Bad enough they caused a ruckus on the lounge section of the patio, but they also decided to run around in the increasingly more crowded dining section, hiding behind tables and running around servers with full trays of food.

And nobody said a word to anyone.

I'm not sure why half a dozen kindergartners were allowed to run around largely unsupervised in a restaurant. I don't understand why parents cannot parent their children.

Anyway...Cypriana is lucky that neither of us got belted by a chair or had food spilled on us by a waiter who had to avoid rugrats. And the food was good.

We mostly stuck with mezzedes, small plates. We tried the spinach and feta flatbread, which was crispy and melty and nicely cheesy.

Also the beef- and lamb-stuffed grape leaves. They were much larger than normal grape leaves, and really very nice, with flavorful filling and tender leaves. They were supposed to come with a yogurt sauce that our waiter forgot, promised to bring, but never did. I suppose they didn't need it.

The sesame roasted feta was drizzled with honey and served with fresh hot pita. I love baked cheese, and could have eaten a few more slabs of this stuff.

We also had the "Mousaka of Cypress," a small and unphotogenic ramekin with layers of eggplant, zucchini, potato, and a beef and lamb mixture, covered in a dreamy bechamel. It was quite possibly the best moussaka I have ever had.

We tried one entree dish of tender grilled octopus served with a cucumber salad (called tabouli on the menu) and some red quinoa, which brought nothing to the plate. The octopus itself was very nice. I tried dipping it in the container of what appeared to be plain, unseasoned, red wine vinegar, and felt that it was fine on its own.

We couldn't pass on dessert, especially when pistachio sea salt baklava was on offer. Made as individual pieces rather than in a large pan, it made for a much neater serving, though it was a bit difficult to cut into bite-sized pieces. The flavor was very good though.

The menu lists the chocolate rose cake as "layers of dark chocolate cake with rich Belgian chocolate and edible roses with a semi-sweet fudge icing." I figured the "edible roses" were made of frosting, but no, there was a definite rose flavor to the cake, and pulverized rose petal dust garnished the plate. I never would pair chocolate with rose, and while it worked here, I still probably won't pair those two strong flavors. The cake was otherwise moist and quite good.

I have mixed feelings about Cypriana. While by and large the food we had was good, the service was meh (still waiting on that yogurt sauce!) and the rugrat disturbance was pretty inexcusable. I can perhaps understand that management might not have wanted to upset their customers by asking them to mind their own brats (Really? I actually do not understand it at all.) but why sacrifice the enjoyment of the other diners?

Cypriana
105 W 39th Street
Baltimore, MD 21210

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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