Ikarians of Middle Earth

Faithful followers of this blog will by now know far more about Ikaria and its people than they ever imagined they would. In our latest foray into all things Ikarian, I take you to Portland for the first meeting of the newly founded chapter of the Pan-Ikarian Brotherhood. That would be chapter 27, “Mesaria” which translates variously as the midlands, the heartland, or (my favorite) the hobbity Middle Earth.

We drove up to Portland for the Saturday night organizational meeting at Eleni’s Philoxenia & Estiatorio in the Pearl district, which we think is the best Greek restaurant in Portland. Actually, it is Andreas who thinks this. But Andreas eats in a lot more Greek restaurants in Portland than I do, and after dining at Eleni's I am inclined to trust him on this one.

So many Greek places prepare the same predictable assortment of spanikopita, moussaka, fried calamari, and so on, most of which I make competently enough in my own kitchen that it’s just not all that appealing for an evening on the town. Eleni’s offers something different. The menu consists mainly of small plates offering a wide variety of cheeses, vegetable dishes, legumes, seafood, meat dishes, and other specialities, prepared authentically but inventively, with a modern American sensibility for presentation. For example, the tzatziki made with thick Greek yogurt, garlic and mint had slices of cucumber arranged on top instead of grated and mixed in the usual way.

The eight people in attendance feasted heartily on tzatziki; crusty bread with olive spread; roasted vegetables with feta; mussels with chopped tomatoes, onions, and chard; grilled calamari; gigantes (giant lima beans in a tomato sauce - I hate lima beans but I love gigantes); and sauteed prawns. Some people at our table chose larger-portioned entrees such as stuffed eggplant, pasta with meat sauce, and roast lamb. I took a pass on dessert but the fellow next to me seemed to like his baklava.

In addition to all this, we enjoyed a lovely Gaia Estates Greek red, as well as after-dinner Metaxa and coffee. Our party hogged the table for a good four hours as the new membership figured out who was related to whom (they are all related, wouldn’t you know), passed around photos of summer trips to the island, and picked out their home villages on the big map. By the time it was over, Andreas was elected treasurer and it was unanimously decided that the summer Ikarian independence day meeting will be held in our back yard. Opa!