Michelle Hopkins
Sun
Ashley Brooks (left) and chef/owner John Kourtessis of Piatos Mediterranean Grill show off spicy sauted calamari, grilled salmon, rack of lamb and three-dip flatbread. Photograph by : Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun
PIATOS MEDITERRANEAN GRILL
26A Fourth St., New Westminster
604-524-4883
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Housed in one of the oldest heritage buildings in New Westminster is one of the city’s newest eateries.
Mediterranean cuisine, with all the fabulous flavours of France, Italy, Greece, Spain and Morocco, is the specialty at Piatos Mediterranean Grill.
Opened just last August, it’s just below the popular comedy club, LaffLines and the moment we enter the restaurant, we are greeted with a smile by proprietor/executive chef John Kourtessis himself.
The space has been transformed into an urban-chic West Coast eatery. The modern décor — with wooden tables, brown velvet curtains and rich, dark-brown leather seating, Mediterranean background music and soft candle lighting in the evening — gives the restaurant a special flair that is starting to attract tourists, residents and business people alike.
Hot and cold mezza (small dishes, around $7.50) make up a whole page on the menu, including dips like hummus and roasted red pepper and feta, Greek salad, calamari skaras, mussel slippers, and firecracker prawns. It takes us a while to make our choices, but we finally decided to share crab cakes served with a tasty Sambuca mayonnaise and a tzatziki dip served with warm pita. The crab cakes were deliciously light and melted in my mouth.
For the main course, I opted for the Piatos Penne, a large serving of spinach, mushrooms (I opted to forgo the mushrooms) and chorizo sausage in a nicely seasoned tomato red wine sauce ($14.95). It tasted as good as it looked. My friend went for the Mediterranean Fettuccini — a medley of chicken, prawns and scallops served in a rich garlic white wine cream sauce ($15.95). Although she enjoyed her entrée, it was more than she could eat.
The menu includes lots of fish and chicken and six varieties of souvlaki dinners, as you would expect from a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant; however, it also offers AAA strip loin and top sirloin steaks for carnivores, as well as a pan-seared rack of lamb and grilled baby back ribs.
The twentysomething Kourtessis told me later that he spent four months refurbishing the restaurant. Those who hail from New Westminster might remember that for more than two decades it used to be Judy’s Restaurant.
Although business started slowly, Kourtessis has worked hard to provide an upscale dining experience at a not-so-upscale price. It’s working; the restaurant business is picking up as people are discovering the newest, hip dining experience in town.
Kourtessis was born into the restaurant business. His parents own Greek restaurants in the valley. As a youngster he would venture into the kitchen and watch the chefs cook. Many of them took him under their wing and taught him the art of good cooking.
He gets in early each day to prepare all the sauces, dips and marinades. Kourtessis shops locally as much as possible to offer his clientele the freshest ingredients.
Although the wine list was rather limited the night we went, he told me he has since added more, featuring some fine VQA wines and old and new world wines. There is a good selection of martinis and local and import beers.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
