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Juan Luis at Workshop -- wow, was that food tasty! We were really there for just a snack to check out the concept, so we split the Chicken Enchiladas. The accompanying rice & pinto beans were nicely spiced. The slaw was fresh with lime which was a cool offset to the heat of the enchiladas.
We sat out in the courtyard which was its own delight will lots of young families. Plenty of room for the little ones to run & play without being disruptive -- in fact, they made it all the more enjoyable.
We're looking forward to trying the other restaurants there in this "food court" like setup.
Now keep in mind that my review comes from the pov of a Greek, and that my reference is authentic Greek food.
Without getting too much into it I found the cuisine to be average at best, some dishes were good, most were meh, and some were poor. The biggest issue I saw were the sizes of the dishes ... not because there was too much food on any given dish (which was also the case for a meze menu) but because the proportions of ingredients were all wrong leading to unappetizing results. A perfect example of this was their tiropita (cheese pie), a basic staple of greek cuisine. They were massive with a little bit of filo around a huge gob of cheese, resulting in a cheese brick rather than a delicate pie with several filo layers ... the cheese filling tasted correctly, so did the filo, but overall it was not good. This issue of ingredient ratio manifested itself across several other dishes. On top of that the taramasalata was bland as was the eggplant salad, the lamb meatballs were super dry, I could go on ...
As a Greek I was very hopeful that we would finally have a decent restaurant in town, especially given how large the Charleston greek community is ... the wait will have to continue because Stella's isn't it. Which is unfortunate because the design is lovely, the atmosphere is fun, and the service was excellent. The place was packed so it seems that for the local market, the food is exactly what is required, so evidently the ownership seems to have gotten it right from a business point of view. That's all well and good but it doesn't come close to satisfying my culinary melancholy.
Now keep in mind that my review comes from the pov of a Greek, and that my reference is authentic Greek food.
Without getting too much into it I found the cuisine to be average at best, some dishes were good, most were meh, and some were poor. The biggest issue I saw were the sizes of the dishes ... not because there was too much food on any given dish (which was also the case for a meze menu) but because the proportions of ingredients were all wrong leading to unappetizing results. A perfect example of this was their tiropita (cheese pie), a basic staple of greek cuisine. They were massive with a little bit of filo around a huge gob of cheese, resulting in a cheese brick rather than a delicate pie with several filo layers ... the cheese filling tasted correctly, so did the filo, but overall it was not good. This issue of ingredient ratio manifested itself across several other dishes. On top of that the taramasalata was bland as was the eggplant salad, the lamb meatballs were super dry, I could go on ...
As a Greek I was very hopeful that we would finally have a decent restaurant in town, especially given how large the Charleston greek community is ... the wait will have to continue because Stella's isn't it. Which is unfortunate because the design is lovely, the atmosphere is fun, and the service was excellent. The place was packed so it seems that for the local market, the food is exactly what is required, so evidently the ownership seems to have gotten it right from a business point of view. That's all well and good but it doesn't come close to satisfying my culinary melancholy.
I enjoy Greek food and I've always liked baklava dessert but pretty much everywhere I've had it I thought it was just okay then one day I had the baklava at Tabbulis and was amazed. The variety of spices of cinnamon cardamom clove I'm not even sure what all was there but it was so delicious and the variety of nuts was the best baklava I've ever had. Everywhere else just taste like sugar and phyllo dough to me now. So I'm just wondering how hard is it to make Baklava and are there any other places that you think do have great Greek food? We have Athens here on James Island that I think is tasty but their baklava certainly doesn't impress me and their gyros are just good I don't know that they're Incredible or anything like that so please any ideas?
I'm glad you enjoyed the baklava at Tabbuli, I'll have to check it out.
I am not much of a cook, much less deserts, so I don't know how hard it is to make baklava. But do keep in mind that many of these sweets like baklava and kataifi are not Greek by origin and originate from different parts of the Middle East and Turkey. Therefore each region has their own way to make it. in fact many dishes are made with nuanced difference even within Greece or any of these countries. So what you will often get is an accurate rendition of the dish but not the one you expect or are used to and therefore prefer ... and sometimes it will just be badly made.
In Charleston the only time and place to get authentic Greek desserts is during the Greek festivals twice a year. That's because real Greek ladies make them at home. The gyro is also delicious at the festivals. Unfortunately they don't serve much more than that and none of it can be frozen. So I pig out semi-anually.
Thankfully I travel to NYC quite frequently and can get my Greek food 'fix' whilst I'm there.
I'm glad you enjoyed the baklava at Tabbuli, I'll have to check it out.
I am not much of a cook, much less deserts, so I don't know how hard it is to make baklava. But do keep in mind that many of these sweets like baklava and kataifi are not Greek by origin and originate from different parts of the Middle East and Turkey. Therefore each region has their own way to make it. in fact many dishes are made with nuanced difference even within Greece or any of these countries. So what you will often get is an accurate rendition of the dish but not the one you expect or are used to and therefore prefer ... and sometimes it will just be badly made.
In Charleston the only time and place to get authentic Greek desserts is during the Greek festivals twice a year. That's because real Greek ladies make them at home. The gyro is also delicious at the festivals. Unfortunately they don't serve much more than that and none of it can be frozen. So I pig out semi-anually.
Thankfully I travel to NYC quite frequently and can get my Greek food 'fix' whilst I'm there.
I love Greek cuisine and agree totally, that just like other countries, flavors can vary dramatically.
I've been the to Charleston Greek Fest. They used to use that gyros prepared loaf that I'm not crazy about. I much prefer the stacked meat on the spit that I learned to love in Europe.
As a side note, I was told at a Greek restaurant in Columbia the the stack meat on the spit was no longer allowed in SC.
I get my Greek fix in Tarpon Springs. But I'll be in NYC in March. Any recommendations?
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