The Aegean coast of Turkey must, I imagine, be quite similar to Greece’s. Sun and sand and clear, warm water, good, fresh seafood simply prepared, olives and olive oil and feta cheese, a juxtaposition of ancient history and modernity that’s hard to find anywhere else. So it’s little surprise that restaurants featuring cuisine from that part of the world often attempt to evoke the setting. White walls of a sharpness that would blind you on a clear summer day; azure blue accents; art—posters, photographs, murals—in which the sea and seaside predominate; even, sometimes, vines around indoor or outdoor seating areas to impart that verdancy-short-of-lushness atmosphere that is also emblematic of the region.

Christos is a casual place, but among the Greek restaurants in the Twin Cities I’ve been to I would rate it closest to "elegant". It’s still not to be recommended for a formal business meeting but it’s the sort of place you could take a visitor you don’t know too well to and not be embarrassed by. A fair amount of effort has gone into the interior decoration, with the tall plants alongside the floor-to-ceiling front windows an especially attractive touch. However, the place needs freshening; the black-and-white linoleum flooring is scuffed up and the acoustic ceiling tiles are badly stained.

The menu is extensive, with hot and cold appetizers, several entrees—several also available as appetizer versions, some pita sandwiches, soups and salads, and combination plates. The owners of the place are from Cyprus, although there are only one or two items on the menu that are marked as Cypriot specialties, a variant of dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with ground beef and lamb, rice and herbs and topped with lemon sauce) and a wine, Othello.

There are in fact two dozen or so wines available by the glass, several of them from Greece. I went with the Othello, which goes for all of $4 a glass. Unsurprisingly it was rather rough, but I could imagine drinking it by the tumbler (which is how it was served) on a languorous, warm, sun-drenched late afternoon by the Mediterranean.

Not that we were by the Mediterranean, but Christos does the Greek character well enough that, despite it being late and a weekday, we partook of a lunch that could be described as languorous (although we limited our wine intake to a glass apiece). Lunch started with an order of loukaniko, a grilled pork sausage. This came as a substantial portion, two large links that would comfortably have served four as an appetizer. It was spiced with red pepper but otherwise bland.

For my main dish I had the spanakopita—a savory spinach and feta filling baked in phyllo pastry. You’ll often find this done in a large sheet, portions from which are cut and served, but here an order is individually prepared. The filling included scallions and dill and was slightly lemony; I would have preferred more cheese and less spinach but that’s a minor quibble. The phyllo pastry was very good. If you’re looking for spinach pie in town, this is where you should come.

Entrees come with a choice of soup or house salad, or a Greek, village, or tabouli salad for an additional $2. I did the Greek upgrade and recommend it. The salad includes Kalamata (or Kalamata-like) olives, capers, peppercini, red cabbage, and thick-cut cucumber slices; the dressing wasn’t overdone and even the lettuce and tomato were tasty.

One also gets a choice of French fries, oven-fried potatoes, and rice pilaf. As a general rule rice pilaf can be a dicey proposition as an accompaniment choice—it’s usually dry, clumpy, and tasteless. I ordered it here as a test, and, while it wouldn’t win any awards it exceeded my expectations, golden raisins and light herbs giving it some flavor.

B ordered moussaka and this was also quite good, the béchamel sauce imparting a fragrant note. The dish seemed heavier on the ground beef and lighter on the eggplant and potatoes than some less robust renditions.

We even did dessert. My baklava was a disappointment, light on the walnuts and too sweet, in a sugary rather than honeyed way. B’s un-Greek choice of chocolate mousse was also too sweet in my view. I concluded the meal with a Greek coffee, which was served in a (full) large espresso cup, a volume I don’t normally associate with Greek coffee. The grounds were still unsettled—an off touch—but at least it wasn’t too weak.

Service was well short of exemplary. By the end of our meal the restaurant was mostly empty but we still had difficulty getting our bill. Yes, one can have a leisurely lunch at Christos, but it should be on the diner’s terms, not the waitstaff’s!

Christos represents the Old World on this street, immigrants who predate the current lot by perhaps a generation, and serves the food of Greece and its Islands in a boisterous tavern atmosphere. Wine is served in tumbler like glasses, finessing the requirement of decent (and expensive) wineglasses on the principal of when in Rome…Well being in Rome, or at least Nicosia, I ordered a tumbler of Naoussa Grand Reserve, a fine, robust, full-bodied wine the color of which verged on inky black. Our table was towards the end of the restaurant, with a view of the open kitchen. The floor plan is a large square with white walls and a blue ceiling that is supported by a couple of fake-ornamental pillars. One wall (towards Nicollet) consists entirely of windowpanes. On the walls hang tourist publicity posters from Greece and Cyprus. The whole place has a pleasant verdant look with green plants scattered generously throughout.

The restaurant was full and there was a buzz of several dozen conversations, in a non-hurried environment. I counted at least two birthday parties and one twelve-step group in session. It was difficult to get any service from our waitress, although it’s difficult to fault her. The restaurant was very busy and she was heavily pregnant. The chef would occasionally sally forth from the kitchen to speak—what I presumed was Greek—to the table next to us. All very bohemian. All very pleasant.

Lunch-goers are offered a regular and a daily special menu. From the regular menu we ordered Loukaniko (grilled spicy pork sausages) as a shared appetizer. There were two soups on the special menu: tomato basil with feta and lemon-rice-egg drop soup (which was mystifyingly labeled as cream of mushroom soup). I decided to start with a cup of the tomato basil soup and then the moussaka as my entrée. My soup was brought out along with A’s Greek salad but no sign of the elusive sausages. The tomato basil soup had liberal quantities of feta in it, some of it congealing to form unattractive, if not unappetizing lumps. Surprisingly the soup was good even if it had a bit too much salt in it. It was now that our appetizer made its appearance: two large and meaty sausages. They had been freshly cooked and were piping hot. Alas! They left a lot to be desired in the taste department, being singularly bland (apart from a liberal dose of pepper; is this what they meant by spicy?) and dry. It seemed that they had been cooked to extinction. I had one bite and left it at that. The moussaka, on the other hand, was terrific. It too was scalding hot and in my haste I managed to burn my mouth. I have always thought of the moussaka as a Greek variation of the English Shepherd’s pie (perhaps that should be the other way round—obviously the Greek predate the English!), with its layer of ground beef (or mince if you like) covered with a layer of potatoes, eggplant and finally covered with a sauce made up of feta cheese, nutmeg and cream cheese. The result is a delightfully aromatic dish with the taste of the meat sauce blending with the eggplant and potatoes. I finished my meal with a most non-Greek of desserts, a chocolate mousse that was rich, sweet and gooey, just as a chocolate mousse should be.

The other items on the special menu included salmos exohikos (salmon, supposedly Norwegian), putanesca (boneless, skinless chicken) and a pork chop. The regular menu is extensive and lists Greek entrées that you might expect like lamb, kebabs, gyros and pork. The interesting thing to remember is that most of the dishes are available in an appetizer size as well.

Christos is a Greek success story and now has a location in St. Paul’s Union Depot Place in addition to this one. I am sure in the past you’ve seen Christos selling its wares at the Minnesota State Fair as well.

In summation a decent, moderately priced Greek restaurant where you can while away an afternoon (after lunch) drinking tumbler after tumbler of fairly respectable Greek wine. Sadly The Lunch couldn’t do that but it heartily recommends this nonsmoking establishment.

B