Xandros Greek opens to the public today on north LaCienega. Feast reveals that owner Adam Kariotoglou is a Seattle restaurateur with a chain called Romios under his cap, who named this particular restaurant for both his own son and Alexander the Great. It appears Xandros cranks up the kind of Greek gala found every Thursday at Papa Cristo’s, with belly dancers, sword dancers, and live music planned here every Wednesday through Sunday. And to eat and drink?
There’s a bar menu of cocktails priced mostly in the low-to-mid-teens, made from fresh juices, fruits, and herbs, with Greek names, but sporting more Stoli and Finladia than ouzo. Still a Greek ice coffee chocolate frappe sounds irresistible, even while the fourteen dollar price almost sends us to the vomitorium well before eating. As for ouzu, it has its own menu, with a small selection of types and serving styles. Greek beer, brandy, and $300 bottle service are also available.
The dinner menu is a medley of Greek standards and specialties, with high-standard ingredients and locally sourced product, turning the more common cheap Greek into something indulgent and obsessively, authentically more Greek than upscale Petros, which will apparently see some competition from a future location of Xandros when it comes to Manhattan Beach this fall.
Xandros’ poetic menu features dishes like Macedonia-style cured, dried beef with imported Greek cheese wrapped in phyllo dough, golden crisp baby calamari, and sagnaki-style Cypriot goat cheese with ouzo drizzled in Greek wildflower honey and balsamico condimento are reasonably priced. Seafood sounds splendid and a few seasonal rarities are served at market price, like sea urchin roe drizzled in olive oil, lemon, and capers, and a preparation of black mussels and New Zealand cockles braised with Greek white wine. A menu of dessert, cheeses, and housemade gelato offers nearly as much to choose from. The full dinner menu is online and so far, sounds like a very promising selection of authentic, yet urbane, Greek cuisine.
Xandros, 50 N. LaCienega Blvd. Beverly Hills. 310-854-1001.
