Review: Yanni's serves up tasty traditional dishes

By Holly Van Auken
Correspondent

VIRGINIA BEACH

Since I have never had a whole lotta love for gyros, spanakopita or baklava, Yanni's Casual Greek, an 8-month-old spot in the Strawbridge area, was not at the top of my restaurants-to-visit list. But after a recent lunch date there with my husband, Lance, I am one of its newest fans.

With a menu of more than 60 food items, Yanni's delivers a nice variety of traditional Greek dishes in a simple but elegant space. W ood and earthy tones rule the interior, and lively Greek music kept our toes tapping.

Our server, Cassandra, greeted us immediately, and when we asked some questions about the tzatziki appetizer ($4.99), she helped us with the pronunciation - za-DZEE-kee - and then explained it's used by Greeks the way Americans use ranch dressing. Within minutes, a generous helping of the zingy yogurt, cucumber and garlic dip arrived with a platter of more than a dozen warm grilled pita triangles. Yum!

For lunch, I followed Cassandra's advice, ordering the bifteki burger pita ($8.50) - described as a freshly ground seasoned beefcake with tomato, onion and tzatziki - while my hubby went for the gyro pita ($7.99), a mix of beef and lamb slices with the same tomato-onion-tzatziki combo. A cup of soup or fries are the accompaniments from which to choose; I ordered the avgolemono soupa - lemon-chicken soup - while my husband subbed the patates fournou - oven-roasted lemon potatoes - for his side.

My sandwich was the Mediterranean answer to the sliders seen on every hip restaurant's menu nowadays. The three fat little patties - which were like flattened Italian meatballs flavored with Greek spices instead of parsley and parmesan - were moist and delicious. Lance, who spent time in Greece while in the Navy, said his gyro was meat-packed, flavorful and, in fact, one of the best he's had.

My soup was divine: Zesty and creamy, but not nearly as heavy as a cream-based soup. Cassandra told us that the starch from the orzo combined with eggs is what gives the broth its thickness and rich flavor. Lance's patates fournou - big chunks of lemon-kissed potatoes - were fantastic.

After explaining my disdain for super-sweet desserts, I went against my gut - which was screaming for the rizogalo ($3.99), rice pudding topped with cinnamon - and ordered two of Cassandra's recommendations to split with Lance: ekmek ($5.99), shredded kataifi filo layered with cream and almonds, and kourambiethes ($3.99), three almond cookies with powdered sugar. The ekmek looked like dessert lasagna, with a base of shredded filo and layers of Bavarian cream and whipped cream. It was good, but a bit too sweet for me. The cookies, which reminded me of the Christmas snowball cookies of my youth, were delish.

The entire meal was paced beautifully, the temperature for each dish was spot-on and we were blown away by how fresh everything tasted. The chefs clearly put a lot of love into their meals, and the staff knows its stuff. We look forward to sampling more on future visits.

Holly Van Auken, hvavb@cox.net