The Best Greek Food In The Valley

Dishing Mediterranean food in Temecula

Courtesy of the Valley News

Shannon Starr

Managing EditorFriday, February 8th, 2008. Issue 06, Volume 12.

Greek food comes with certain expectations.
I expect a little personality with my meal. I was not disappointed when I visited The Greek Place on Jefferson Avenue in Temecula.
Owner Vassiliki “Vasso” Batzakidou infuses her personality and warmth into everything she does.
She brings her grandmother’s recipes into this century but doesn’t forget where she learned them.
“I remember the first dish I cooked when I was 13 years old,” Batzakidou said during an interview at her restaurant. “It was meatballs. My grandmother sat and told me how to put it together, the meat, the rice and the spices.”
On that Greek island Batzakidou said it was as if a lightbulb went on over her head. The raw ingredients, the mixing and the cooking and then someone had something good to eat. She got it.
Just one bite of Batzakidou’s pastitsio and you know grandmother taught her well. The layers of chewy macaroni, lightly-seasoned ground beef and the velvety creamy béchamel sauce create a warm and hearty comfort meal.
But I get ahead of myself.
We started our meal at The Greek Place with a bottle of Retsina, a traditional Greek white wine which, according to Batzakidou, gets its name and taste from the pine resin used to seal the casks.
For the spices and seasonings of Greek food, including the olive oil, the saltiness of the olives, the feta cheese and also the lemon flavors, Retsina can stand on its own, helping the palate to transition to a new taste or texture.
These tastes and textures included the appetizer sampler with creamy cool tzatziki, hummus, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), fire feta (roasted red peppers and cheese), feta cheese with olives and hot fresh pita bread.
This was an array of tastes that we should have spent more time with, and it also needed more people.
As Batzakidou delivered the food I felt that something was missing and that something was a large group of happy friends who would also dive into the garlic hummus, red pepper feta chess mix and stuffed grape leaves with us.
Next, the rest of the food arrived: a huge plate with a Greek salad and bulgur topped with gyro meat, chicken souvlaki, falafel patties and the aforementioned heavenly pastitsio.
The gyro meat was tender and juicy and the chicken souvlaki served on a skewer was nicely cooked and seasoned. Between bites of the meat, the bulgur and the salad, we were enjoying ourselves a lot.
While falafel isn’t a Greek food, Batzakidou explained, customers have come to expect the Middle Eastern dish on the menu and she doesn’t want to disappoint them. The fried chick-pea patties were delicious and I let my husband have the last one, with some regret.
With me enjoying the gyro and him noshing on the chicken we tried our best to finish the feast but it proved to be too much food for us.
The final course of this Greek Feast for Two was baklava and coffee, which was served just as the belly dancer started.
The Greek Place has a belly dancer. Batzakidou admits the dance form also is not Greek, but, she said with a shrug of her shoulders, “I’m Greek. We like to please people.”
Now here is where my husband faced a dilemma. Fine flaky filo dough, crushed walnuts, cinnamon and honey or a hot sultry blond dancing enticingly.
Let’s just say I would not want to compete with Batzakidou’s pastry making skills.
The Greek Place is at 27326 Jefferson Ave., Suite 17, in Temecula. Information: (951) 296-5674.
Lunches include gyros in pita bread served with French fries ($7.95) salads ($5.95 to $11.95) and falafel, souvlaki and vegetarian plates ($8.95 to $9.95). Dinners range from $12.95 to $18.95, including Chicken Salonika and mousaka.
See coupon in our Coupon Corner insert or go online to http://www.myvalleynews.com/.