Monday, May 22, 2006

Yanni's! OPA!

This weekend I went to what is officially my favorite restaurant in Denver. It's a little "Greek Taverna" in Denver off of Monaco and Evans. Yanni's! You'd never guess... this little Greek Restaurant sits in a little strip mall in nowhere in particular.

I found Yannis about 7 or 8 years ago, I suppose... I went out to England to visit my sister Gina, and her hubby Nick. One night we went to a greek restaurant out there, which was pretty much my first taste of real, greek food. I LOVED IT.

Long story short, when I came back, I had a major hankerin' for some really good, authentic greek food. I went to the most reliable source, the Yellow Pages and I suppose I got lucky.

Here's a random shot of a wine glass with a reflection of clouds and peeps at Yanni's.


The first thing I noticed was a guy cruising around, kissing everybody on the cheeks. I thought that was cool. I assumed they were family. I thought that was cool, too. I didn't get a kiss, but I got the best service ever! Yanni, the owner... the guy who was kissing everyone, filled up my glass of Ouzo (WHICH I LOVE) like 10 times while I was there. I was a little nervous about my bar tab, but guess what, the Ouzo is free! But it's not like you should go there and just expect free Ouzo. The Ouzo is a gift, from Yanni himself. You don't order a gift.

Yesterday, Yanni was feeling CRAZY and decided to express himself with some really bold fashion. I thought being Italian made me automatically stylish. Yanni is Greek. There is a difference.



Anyway, I have been going back to that little strip mall greek restaurant ever since and it's a favorite splurge day destination. My favorite is their Pastitsio, which is like a really big hunk of macaroni, beef, spices and who knows what else, but I LOVE IT.

This is not the Pastitsio. It's Veal something-or-other. Jenny ordered it and it was tantalizing. I took a photo of my Pastitsio, but it was after I had already started eating it, so I ruined the photo op. It's why I could never be a food photographer.


If you're in Denver, I HIGHLY recommend Yannis, a Greek Taverna! Best service and food EVER. Oh and I love when I call to see when they close. They just say, "Well how long do you want to stay?". They never rush you out when it's "about that time". I love Yannis!

And so does Walt. He doesn't like Ouzo, so since he wasn't going to drink it, he decided to balance it on his head. I tried to do that, but I have too much hair. ;)


And finally, dessert! This is a caramel thing. It was good. I ordered the greek yogurt with honey and walnuts! Mmmm... once again, I ate that before I thunk to take a photo of it. And my embarrassing moment of the evening: I ordered a greek cafe drink. It's sweet coffee in a teeny tiny mug. At the bottom, there appeared to be mocha! Like chocolate fudge! It was splurge day, so I took a huge spoonful of it... turned out to be coffee grounds. What the heck are those greeks doing, leaving the coffee grounds in the cup! I didn't want to spit it out and offend Jenny's family, so I took a big gulp of water and washed it down. "Poor little fool. I was a fool,I was a fool oh yeahhhh..."

OPA!

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