Taverna Nikos : Wonderful Appetizers

My Most Faithful Readers and I had a delightful time at Taverna Nikos last night, celebrating my Second Most Faithful Reader's birthday. It was actually the first of two dinner celebrations, since he had to attend the Durham FM Association board meeting tonight, on his actual birthday. I decided to order two appetizers as my entree, which was a more food than I could possibly eat, but I don't regret my ordering decision in the least. I ordered the Spanakopita, or "Spinach Pie", which is one of my favorite dishes of all time. The pastry was nice, fresh and crisp and the spinach to cheese ratio was very good. Georgios Kastanias, Taverna Nikos's executive chef, explained to me that he uses his mother's recipe and I think it's excellent. In fact, his mother is visiting from Greece this summer and I got to meet her! She checks in on my blog in order to see photos of her son and his cooking.

I also ordered the Tzatziki, the yogurt cheeese, garlic and cucumber dip, served with pita wedges. That was superb.

For dessert, we shared the flourless chocolate cake, which was infused with raspberries. It was very good.

One of the best parts of the experience was that Georgios sat down and chatted with us. He's extremely busy with the Durham restaurant, the location in Morrisville and his new baby.