The Essential Guide to Twin Cities Restaurants

Armed with a ferocious appetite and an insatiable thirst for food knowledge, Minneapolis based food blogger Keane Amdahl is on the prowl. Through extensive study and travels, Keane has learned to hone his palette on his quest to find out the secrets of the elusive perfect dish. For more of Keane's work, you can visit his blog at http://foodstoned.com.

It’s really hard not to love fresh, Greek cuisine. The flavors are simple, crisp, and vibrant; slather a bunch of creamy tzatziki over some soft, warm pita bread, add a little tomato and onion, and you'll immediately know exactly what I’m talking about. Greek cuisine also offers up luxuriously rich and succulent meat and seafood dishes. If you've never had the pleasure of a Mediterranean culinary experience, all of these things can be found at Christos Greek Restaurant. With three different locations spread across the metro area, Christos is a great place to get a taste of delicious Greek culinary delights.

Our dinner started with a flaming plate of Saganaki. Not sure what Saganaki is exactly? Well let me explain! A piece of Greek cheese, in this case Kasseri, is served to you on a metal broiler plate. The server then pours brandy atop the cheese and lights the whole darned thing on fire while letting out a loud exclamation of, "OPA!". Once the flames go down, the server squeezes a fresh lemon over the top. It’s at this point you're allowed to eat the cheese on warm, squishy pita bread. Seriously, if you like cheese at all, you’re going to love this. The oozy, gooey cheese is nothing shy of satisfying.

Instead of going the normal route of ordering a few singular entrees, we decided to order one of Christos bountiful sampler platters. This way we had the opportunity to try a larger number of their bountiful offerings. The platter we ordered is referred to on the menu as The Illiad, and just like the classic poem, this plate of food is epic and is meant for (and will easily feed) two. First off, it comes served with a delicious Spanakopita. This crispy phyllo dough pastry is filled with creamy, soft cheese and lush spinach. In addition to the delicious spanakopita, you also receive a piece of Mousaka. Mousaka is essentially a Greek hot-dish (not unlike lasagna) that utilizes ground beef sandwiched in-between layers of eggplant and potato. It's like Minnesota and Greece came together and created a dish featuring the best of both worlds. This plate also comes with Koupepia; a ground beef, lamb, and rice stuffed grape leaf. The Koupepia comes served with a creamy lemon sauce and is borderline explosive with flavor. Another element of the tremendous Illiad is the Loukaniko. The Loukaniko is a spicy, grilled, greek style pork sausage that is devine dipped in a just a little bit of tzatziki. The final addition to this platter of mythic proportion is the classic gyro. No matter how you decide to pronounce it, there's nothing like a platter of thinly sliced beef and lamb meat. When eating a gyro, make sure you don't skip on the tzatziki; I cannot stress this enough. The creamy condiment made up of yogurt and cucumber is divine when smothered on top of the spicy, slow roasted meat.

Okay, I know what you're probably thinking. You’re thinking, "Wait; you went to a Greek restaurant and you didn't order a massive hunk of lamb?". Well kids, the jokes on you because obviously I ordered a giant slab of slow cooked lamb. The Illiad platter was indeed massive, but that wasn't going to prevent me from trying their braised lamb shank (which the server assured me was his favorite item on the menu). It was easily one of the most delicious pieces of lamb I’ve had all throughout the Twin Cities. The meat was unbelievably moist and tender; it was literally dripping off of the bone. Perfectly fatty and meaty, and smothered in a caramelized onion and dill sauce, this dish is a must try for any serious lamb lover.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience authentic Greek food, Christos is definitely worth a trip. With three convenient metro locations, you don't have to make the trek all the way to Mount Olympus for a delicious plate of Greek food (although it would still make for a fantastic adventure!)

Photos by mpatrickphoto.com

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