Cuisine:

• Greek

Anthos Description:
This Midtown eatery is hard to walk away from without wanting to come back for more. Familiar-on-paper dishes---like skordalia and moussaka---are wonderfully reinvented on the plate (chef Michael Psilakis has now left the restaurant). The assortment of meze is entirely raw-fish focused---think Greek ceviche where apple, green chickpeas and salty ramps sharpen scallops; and lemon confit, rosemary and piney mastic oil brighten thick squares of tuna. Briny oysters gain an edge from radish and pink peppercorns, and crab meat with sea urchin tzatziki make a dreamily creamy combination. The starters set such a fresh tone that it's hard to part from the fishy premise for the rest of the feast. If you must venture to earth, the hilopita is the most worthy dish, especially if sheep's milk ricotta gnudi are standing in for the usual egg noodle. Combined with rabbit, snails, black truffle and manouri cheese, the light dumplings and weighty garnishes come together in fine harmony. Otherwise, the bountiful spicy seafood stew of crawfish, sausage, razor clams, shrimp and mussels stands out, even if diners are left wanting for more of the saffron-tinged broth. Endings have an equally inspired muse, especially the "sesame," a plate of tahini-like ice cream alongside a caramel-filled halvah shell and black sesame candy crumble. On the wine list, a vast Greek selection of 100-plus bottles goes well beyond retsina, with some interesting Macedonian, Peloponnese and Ionian reds and whites. The Tselepos Amalia Brut sparkler makes for a good start. Italian, French and North American choices round out the options, and ten half bottle selections allow for affordable sampling. The only tragedy in this Greek revival is the sparsely decorated, claustrophobic room---but we enjoy the cooking here too much to bother looking up from our plates.


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