With the upscale Greek restaurant Kellari Taverna, Stavros Aktipis and his partners have created a warm, rollicking, woody milieu with high-beamed ceilings, an open kitchen, hardwood floors, wine racks, mirrors, soft lighting, and beautiful bouquets. Aktipis -- who owned Avra, an elegant, excellent East Side Hellenic hangout -- has patterned Kellari similarly.
Kellari, which means “wine cellar,” is true to its Greek roots. There’s a display of whole fish on ice that is the restaurant’s featured attraction, along with an extensive wine list that offers more Greek selections (about 100) than any place in the city -- or even the country. Fish dominates the menu; lamb and vegetables run second and third. They’re all enhanced with herbs, olive oil, and lemon. The very fresh fish is often brushed with olive oil, grilled and garnished with lemon, or cooked in the oven with herbs and eggplant. Artichokes, yogurt, and goat and feta cheeses can be found throughout the menu.
In many ways, though, Kellari Taverna is a wine-centered restaurant. Bottles are kept cool in large copper bowls; a balcony wine-rack display holds bottles used for the many wine-by-the-glass possibilities; and its extensive list is divided between international and Greek options. Although many of the French, Spanish, and other regional wines here are admirable, most are widely available elsewhere. The Greek ones aren’t, however, and they go extremely well with the food. (Modern Greek wines are world-class, not the primitive stuff of yesteryear.)
Appetizers include warm grilled octopus in a vibrant tangle of onions, peppers, capers, olive oil, red-wine vinegar, and baked goat cheese studded with spiced apricots. Spanakopita, or spinach-stuffed phyllo triangles, was standard while grilled calamari was superior: tender and alive with herbs, lemon juice, and olive oil.
All four entrées scored: The fork-tender lamb shank; the stew-like oven-roasted Chilean sea bass with potatoes and Vidalia onions; the flaky grilled salmon; and especially the pristine, whole imported Tsipoura. The last, an ivory fillet, yielded a subtle flavor.
Subtle, too, was masticha, a difficult-to-describe anise-like mousse dessert paired with fruit stewed in honey syrup and Muscat wine from the island of Samos. Thick, hearty sheep’s-milk yogurt was strewn with wild cherries, and galaktoboureko, a large wedge of rich custard with red orange sauce, satisfied -- as did sokolata, chocolate soufflé in a chocolate cup with an appropriate halva mousse offset.
19 W. 44th St. btw. Fifth & Sixth Aves., 212-221-0144; www.kellari.us
Richard Jay Scholem was a restaurant critic for the New York Times' Long Island section for 14 years. His A La Carte column appeared from 1990 to 2004. For more "Taste of the Town" reviews, click here.
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