The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-19
AT A GREEK RESTAURANT.
Oriental Dishes, Excellent Coffee and
Deadly Cake That Greeks Enjoy

Greek cooking in New York is something
! between French and Turkish. In the
! matter of solids and sauces French in
! huence seems predominant in the matter
of sweets and coffee Oriental influence is
stronger.
Time was when nobody who could dine
elsewhere dined at a Greek restaurant,
but the Greek restaurants have greatly
improved within ten years, and they flourish
nightly This prosperity Is largely due
to the fact that of the thirteen or fifteen
thousand Greeks resident in the city, it 10
estimated that hardly Ave hundred are
members of families. One Greek resid
says that there are hardly fifty Greek fsmi-
lies in the city
A dinner in a Greek restaurant OF the
better sort begins with white slightly
aromatic, sweet liqueur served in q pony
glass. An excellent soup follows, and then
comes the meat. which is often in effect
a rich ragoGt, with spinach or okIa as part
of the dish.
One or more other vegetables may ao-
company the meat. Fish also is served
when the meal is at all elaborate, and in it's
usual place afterthe soup.
Before the coffee, and often with it. come
the sweets. They are of nHny kinds.
Some of them suggest the old fashioned
chopped mute.
Another dessert suggests hot moist.
sweet breakfast food sparsely sown with
a kind Of oblong seed Americans seldom
like this particular dish. Dried ourIants
form part of several other characteristic
Greek desserts.
Coffee il the serious business Of the Greek
meal. Il is in effect Turkish coffee plus
sugar, though il is not prepared in tho
approved Turkish fashion.
The first essential Of Greek coffee ord-
narily served in demitasse. is that il shall
snow on the surface the cream This -
not cream, as ordinarily understood, but
the essential oil OF the coffee berry floating
like light yellowish brown foam upon the
surface Of the beverage.
A cup Of coffee in which this is achieved
is excellent 10 the palate Of most Americans
who like black coffee. The Greeks do not
drink or eat, the thick pudding Of coffee
powder that remains at the bottom OF the
cup.
So fond are the resident Greeks Of their
special coffee that many men drink ten or
twelve cups during the day, In nearly al
the restaurants you may see men sitting
about the tiny tables reading, talking.
playing dominoes or cards. aud slipping
cup after cup of their pudding coffee.
Sometimes the coffee is accompanied by
an odd triangular cake thickly vanished
with sticky molassesllke sauce. Within
the cake has the inevitable chopped nuts,
and the whole, in taste and smell, suggests
something between drug store and bar
Der shop.
This particular cake is probably the
deadllest form OF food served for human
consumption anywhere IN New York. out
side the cheap restaurants, the specially
Of which is ptomaine poison, The Greeks
however, seem TO eat il with impunity.
Perhaps the cognRc that often accom-
panics the coffee ncts az an antidote.
You may dine abuudantly a Ia Grecque
for 80 or Is cents. and sumptuously for a
little over 81, for the dishes cost from only
5 10 80 cents Half a dollar more will
give you the opening liqueur. cognac with
coffee, and a glass or two Of potable wna.
Even the remnants Of your college Greek
will not take you far into interpreting the
bill Of fare.