Mourayo, Washington, D.C.

Fr. Stephen in his "Kody pose"

Yesterday evening, my friend Fr. Stephen dragged me off to north Dupont Circle on banking errands, after which we decided to find a place for dinner. We just happened to be on Connecticut across from several restaurants when we espied Mourayo, a Greek place at which neither of us had previously eaten, so that's where we headed.

Mourayo is a pretty little restaurant with white walls divided by natural wood moldings on the walls and decorative items with a seafaring theme. The wait staff, male and female, was all attired in tight black trousers, starched and ironed white Greek sailor shirts, and black Greek fishermen's hats. We were given a table right in front by the windows that were open to the sidewalk beyond.

The menu is long, featuring a lot of Greek items with which I was not familiar, and it appeared that there was a lot of "creativity" going on in some of the combinations and presentations. While we perused the menu, Fr. Stephen sipped a Santo Santorini white wine and I had a Mercouri Foloi white. I particularly liked mine, since it was dry and very sippable.

Fr. Stephen started with the Symposium Edesmata, an appetizer sampler plate with tyrokafteri, tzatziki, taramosalata, skordelia, fava, hoummus, and patzaria, all a series of pureed items intended as a pita bread spread that include things like fava beans, chickpeas, potatoes, cheeses, a fish roe, thickened yogurt, and some little chunks of red beets. I tasted a couple of them (plus I got to eat the beets and the wonderfully fruity Greek olives, none of which he likes to eat) and thought they were really good.



For his main course, he chose the Pythagorus Theorema, a very nouveau concoction featuring three medallions of pork loin grilled medium rare and crowned with a dollop of Greek manouri cheese and a candied fig half, then all sauced in a honey and walnut glaze. I sampled a little bite and it was quite nice with unusual but interesting flavors. Grilled asparagus and thickened yogurt sauce came with the pork.



My food was equally interesting, begining with poughi a "beggar's pouch" of manouri cheese with almonds and roasted Florina peppers encased in a phyllo dough "bag" and served with sliced green onions and a little bit of tomato coulis. The cheese mixture was quite rich.



My main course was a better-than-expected bowl of gida vrasti "Sparta", a traditional Peloponnesian goat stew. Rice and yogurt were placed in the middle of the large soup plate then covered with an enormous serving of stewed goat, then the bowl was filled with the goat broth. Much of the goat meat was still on the bone; it was tender and very flavorful--more like kid than goat.



Desserts sounded wonderful and intriguing, but we were both too stuffed to try them.

Mourayo is a place that is definitely on my list of restaurants to visit again. I'm looking forward to the next adventure there!