Greek Peasant Salad

This is one of my favorite summer meals -- Greek peasant salad made with feta cheese, tomatoes and kalamata olives. This photo was taken at Taverna Kyclades, my favorite Greek restaurant in Astoria.

So do you like salads or cheese?

Dinner at Taverna Kyclades

Since my out-of-town friends are still in NYC, we decided to go to my favorite Greek seafood restaurant for dinner last night. Taverna Kyclades on Ditmars Boulevard and 34th Street in Astoria serves mostly seafood cooked on the grill. This is one of my favorites: grilled shrimp. The dish comes with roasted lemon potatoes on the side. We also ordered a serving of Greek salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives and feta cheese.

So do you like Greek food?

Anchovies at Mediterranean Foods

I was in Astoria last week for an appointment with the ophthalmologist and decided to visit my favorite Greek supermarket on 34th Street between 31st and 30th Avenue called, Mediterranean Foods. It has some of the best feta cheeses, marinated olives and almonds I have ever tasted.

This photo shows an assortment of marinated anchovies and baby octopi/octopuses on the counter in the deli section. I absolutely LOVE anchovies and this supermarket has some of the most exotic versions of them. I love anchovies in my Caesar salad, pasta puttanesca (the mere origin of the word puttanesca is worth reading, if you don't already know) and of course, the Vietnamese fish sauce.

So where do you stand on anchovies?

Grilled Octopus @ Philoxenia

In keeping with the National Greek Parade theme, here is a photo of a grilled octopus dish from Philoxenia, a Greek restaurant in Astoria, where my friend and I went for dinner last Saturday night. My friend wanted to go to Philoxenia because she read a review of the restaurant in the New York Times and I, on the other hand, was more than willing to tag along because I used to live in Astoria and I love Greek food.

So have you ever had grilled octopus or grilled calamari?