I’ve written this up before, but time for it’s own post. This is an exceptional restaurant with a very unusual synergy with wine and food.
Maine is a restaurant state, but Brunswick is not a restaurant town. But this is the best restaurant in town and would easily make Top 10 in Portland, a serious foodie city.
On a side street, parking is easy. Seats about 30. It’s like your Greek grandma’s dining room; the food is the same, but better and the wine is a whole lot better.
Spreads are four bucks with their own bread. I had the tzatziki, which makes the stuff from the supermarket taste like skim milk. My guest had the fava spread, also outstanding. She had two apps, the white bean soup and the squash fritters. Both were outstanding, as rich and soulful as you could want. The soup could have been Italian (not a complaint). The fritters were incredible, with Feta and served over a dollop of wonderful yoghurt.
I had had a big lunch and planned to eat light, so just had the octopus app, which came with a completely different fava spread, capers and red onion. I could eat this forever. Lamb shank was the special, and they were substituting goat for rabbit in the stifado! I did some serious cursing about the big lunch because I wanted both the lamb and the goat, but had room for neither.
The wine list is completely Greek, with 4 each of reds and whites btg (plus a pink and a bubbly) and an extensive bottle list, comprising about 75 wines. Bottle prices range from $30 - 90, about 50% over retail. Vintages range from 2020 back to 2004. The list is available for retail sales, with discounts that take prices to no more than usual retail and often well below. I am not sure there is a better retail source for Greek wines between here and Astoria, Queens… maybe not even there! There is a very serious wine geek behind this! I’ve had a number of requests from board members coming to Maine to recommend retail venues for wine. Normally, a ‘store’ selling only Greek wine would not be a typical recco, but if you have any sense of adventure, a mixed case from here will allow you to uncork some idiosyncratic wonders.
OK, Maine is a big tourist destination, Brunswick is not. I’m not going to use the Michelin term “worth the voyage”. But if you’re as far north of Portland as, say, Freeport, this is where you should eat one night.
Dan Kravitz