Greece is the Word
B. Restaurant
A massive red and black contemporary sculpture lures you into the expansive outdoor lounge and café that is the entrée to B., the restaurant. Through the interior portal a warm greige wall and 2 vertical columns punctuate a circular ceiling that covers this oasis of cool. Adjacent and connected to the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, Greece’s dramatic second city, B. is situated just far enough away from the hub and clutter of the downtown nexus to be noticed and it’s hard not to notice. Whitewashed brick walls accented with gilt mirrors set off by pools of light concealed behind cream leather banquettes provide the backdrop for a positive/negative play of black lacquer tables harboring alternating black and cream leather chairs. Think Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani at home in their dining rooms and you get the picture. B. manages to take museum dining to an exquisite level, clearly making a statement with a sophisticated room that displays modern art in a glowing minimal environment.
The groovy ambience though is just a tease for the food, the best in the city, I think; unique interpretations of Mediterranean dishes with French and Italian influence that leave you begging for more. Sotiris Evangelous, the executive chef who spends half of the year at Athens’ famed Grand Bretagne Hotel, is quick to point out that he changes the menu every six months adding new items that are gradually perfected with input from the staff. His close collaboration with owner, Chryssa Koniordou, has cemented a formula where dishes are unique to each season and having been a player on the scene for about 5 years, it’s safe to say that theirs is a formula that’s working.
Wisely, we began our meal with a wine from Santorini (especially since we couldn’t make it there). The restaurant serves a full selection of Greek wines, some 60 labels, and our host chose the Nychteri Ktima Hatzithaki, a winner, made from the Assyrtiko fume grape. While the phenomenal late summer Greek weather in the north still generated substantial heat, it was an easy jump south after tasting that wine and our warm bellies were craving the wonderful Greek cuisine that we’ve come to know and love.
Our first morsel, an octopus carpaccio, melted in our mouths and I began to drift away to a seaside taverna. The flavors of a perfect eggplant ratatouille and a parmesan tuile set off the brilliant freshness of Greece’s extra special specialty. We then dove into the fava puree with roasted calamari in its own ink which was nicely set off by an unexpected fresh spinach salad, not the norm for sure in Greece but how many Greek salads can a guy eat (take a guess, ok?). Our host convinced us to experiment with the chef’s bold moves and we finished our starters with a worldly risotto with a mushroom and truffle trilogy. Now I am not one for rice but every now and then a few forkfuls of a well done risotto can be a thrill so we gave in and begged the kitchen for a small portion. Zito!
After a little conference about the ability to get up out of our chairs if we ordered meat, we decided to channel our inner Greek spirit and stayed with fish. The sea bass filet with shrimp served with a yummy mushroom ravioli and the special, a light, moist and lemony dorade (sea bream) with a citrus infused tabouleh kept the belts buckled at least until dessert.
Greek cuisine is not exactly dessert-centric … face it, usually it’s baklava and simple, fresh cake. I guess someone at B. knows a thing or two about how to please the smart tourists that race to this fabulous country. Thank you, B.! Our chocolate croquant arrived looking like a Frank Gehry beach home with angled roofs of chocolate and praline and two rooms, one a sliver of chocolate mousse cake, the other a wedge of chocolate hazelnut ice cream. Needless to say, we moved right in. The island of Santorini hit another high note with a beautiful vin santo (yes, blessed, and so were we).
B. Restaurant is open until 1 am Mondays through Saturdays and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. GO!
B.
G’ Septembriou 2 @ The Byzantine Museum
Thessaloniki, Greece
30-2310-869695 www.brestaurant.gr