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Dining Divas Go Mediterranean At U. City Loop Greek Restaurant
BY LISA KAMPETER
In honor of the Greek Diva’s birthday, the Dining Divas feasted at Momos Ouzaria Taverna in University City, and what a feast it was!
Located just south of Delmar on North and South in the Loop area, Momos Greek Tavern is very easy to find unless you ask the Directionally Challenged Divas who circled the area for about 30 minutes before landing.
This month, we broke all the rules. Since it was the Greek Diva’s birthday we allowed her Dining Dude to join us as well as her Greek Mama Diva from Florida. With this in mind, a Greek restaurant was the perfect location.
As we entered the front door and passed through a long curtain to enter the lobby area, we couldn’t help but notice the lengthy couches with inviting pillows that tempted us to kick back and relax. We were led into a narrow room that had “private”cubbyholes sectioned off with strands of beads hanging from the entrances. Because of the size of our group, we couldn’t fit in a cubbyhole so we sat out in the open.
A belly dancer and an ambitious yet rhythm-less volunteer entertained us as we deciphered the extensive menu. If you ask the Divas, there were too many items to choose from. Fortunately, the majority of the food is served “mezes” style…like tapas, but with Greek cuisine. Actually, mezes transcends tapas by about 500 years. This style specializes in “smaller” plates that are meant to be shared. In the Diva world, this just meant that we could order more!
We kept it coming. The Momos spread sampler served with warm pita bread got things started for us. Everyone liked the three dips we chose, and one spread, called htipiti, a red pepper dip, was “super delicious.”
The eggplant fries with tomato-sherry skordalia, a Greek garlic sauce, was Greek Mama Diva’s favorite. She also really liked the papou, the Greek version of Italian food. It’s shell pasta with artichokes, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese. Everyone at the table enjoyed this entrée. The crispy chickpea and feta cakes were a favorite of the Cultured Diva, and the Greek Diva preferred the falafel made from fava beans. This Greek expert did not think the scallops were that great, however.
Honestly, it was all “Greek to me.” I figured I’d leave the restaurant hungry. I’m happy to say I was pleasantly satisfied and would definitely go back. I tried to find an entrée that was as close to what I would consider normal as possible. I chose the beef tenderloin kabob with roasted potatoes. It was so good one Diva wanted to pour the leftover sauce from the steak and potatoes into a cup and drink it. I had considered the meatball sandwich, but it was only offered at lunch. Regardless, I knew better than to attempt to order it for fear of ridicule by the rest of the group.
But the ridicule would have been appropriate. Momos is the Greek god of ridicule, disdain, and satire. The story goes that Zeus voted him off the mountain, Mount Olympus, because he demonstrated traits of sarcasm and envy. He’d own the mountain now if he was alive.
The Greeks at our table couldn’t answer why most Greek words have so many “A’s” and “O’s” in them. And why they competed for the longest words ever? I was about to place a bet at our table that no one could properly pronounce “kefalograveria” (a cheese) when Mama Diva blurted the name out, and that she loved using it when she made some other fancy-named Greek dish that I probably would have been frightened of.
I learned that if it ends “iki,” and the last name of the person who’s eating the “iki” item ends in ‘”opoulos”, it’s Greek. I learned that all cakes don’t have frosting on them or even sugar in them like domatokeftedes or feta cake. Why not just call them what they are, vegetables and cheese? That doesn’t sound like a dessert to me.
Before I arrived, I’d heard of phyllo and gyros. I wasn’t quite sure what you did with them, but they sounded “godly”. For a moment, I thought we may see a handsome bartender wrapped in grape leaves as we watched the belly dancer so rigorously “shake her money maker.” No such luck. I accepted the fact that I may have to act like I enjoy olives and brie, but I would have to draw the line at togas. I would not go there. Fortunately for me and the rest of the patrons, it wasn’t an issue.
My true Greek moment happened when the waitress brought out the saganaki and lit it on fire. Deep inside me and from everyone else around me came “Opa!” I wasn’t really sure why I said it or what it meant, but it was my quintessential Greek moment. Momos may still be Greek to me, but it’s all good. We’ll definitely be back.
