EST. 2011 BY LIZ RUEVEN
All Greek and Loving Every Bite Plus Grilled Citrus Salmon

All Greek and Loving Every Bite Plus Grilled Citrus Salmon

When Maria Loi, owner and chef of  Loi Restaurant  in NYC, read my Kosher Like Me business card she grabbed me by the hand and insisted that I follow her. I slung my bag over the back of my chair before I had even taken my seat,  waved to my dinner companions, who looked both amused and  baffled (I could hear them thinking, “Oy, here we go again“), grabbed my I-phone for pics (I thought it was an OFF night) and allowed myself to be steered into the inner sanctum of this busy NYC restaurant kitchen. It was brightly lit, immaculate and humming with focused activity.

 “Look!”,  she directed me with a wide smile and a sweeping arm gesture, “I separate my stations so there is no mixing of meat and dairy. You might guess that I am kosher!”  Stunned by the seeming incongruity and surprise of it all, but loving the pace of this ride, it was clear that Maria Loi had a story to tell.

 Loi grew up on the Corinthian Gulf coast in Nafpaktos in a home where dairy and meat were always separated as were dishes and pans. She never gave it a thought until she came to NYC and discovered that her father was Jewish.

“He unfortunately died without knowing, or at least without telling us he knew.  Maybe this is why he gave shelter to sixteen Jewish families during World War II– and his friends were almost all Jewish.  I learned of my Dad’s ancestry from an Italian photographer here in New York.”

 Now that she knows more about her Jewish lineage, she understands the roots of her habit of separating meat and dairy, although her restaurant is not kosher. Among the ways she identifies with her Greek and Jewish background, she honors Greek Holocaust survivors in NYC by cooking for them at the Greek Consulate on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year and last, there were over 100 guests in attendance.

steamed asparagus

 Loi’s menu is an easy one to navigate, with plenty of fish and vegetable choices and more unexpected surprises like vegetarian moussaka. She credits her great-grandmother’s recipe collections as her inspiration, especially her straightforward focus on fresh ingredients and her reluctance to fry anything.

I returned to Loi last night with one of my besties and a group of five 20- somethings, all hungry and happy to volunteer their opinions as we worked our way through almost all of the vegetarian and fish choices on the menu.

spanakopita, cheese croquettes, gigante beans

From the appetizers, we loved the cheese croquettes, a surprisingly light, baked, single bite of goat and Manouri cheeses encased in crisp crust and sitting atop a sweet dollop of fig and apricot compote.

Bring on more compote, please!

Other standouts were the oven baked beans with spinach and tomato served alongside a single, tender cipollini onion on a neat tile of feta cheese. The beans were fat, tender and perfect.

Baked baby eggplant stuffed

Baked eggplant stuffed with tomatoes, onions and smoked feta mousse disappointed a bit, as I was yearning for a sharper, saltier bite as contrast to the sweetness.

Vegetarian Moussaka was a real treat. Slow cooked, minced mushrooms replace the traditional meat filling, lending the requisite heft. The eggplant was caramelized from slow cooking alongside the sweet onions.  A soft pillow of  potatoes lightly whipped with Graviera cheese topped the dish.

Grilled Branzino over Horta

The stars of the show here are the fresh, well prepared fish and we ordered all of those fit for kosher keepers.

The grilled Branzino was served over a bed of Horta (greens) and plump, lemony cous cous. It’s crisp skin and moist interior made it a group favorite.

Filet of Grouper

Filet of Grouper was equally delicious and tasted pleasantly of the sea. Poached fingerling potatoes, Israeli couscous, grilled onion, reduced tomatoes and asparagus rounded out the dish.

Sides of  lemony roasted potato spears, roasted cauliflower simmered in gently spiced tomato sauce, and wild, steamed greens saisfied our need for veggies. Barely cooked asparagus were bright and crisp and topped with a crumble of feta.

Birthday cake flourless chocolate

While nobody in the group imagined having room to sample Loi’s authentic, housemade, Greek sweets selection, I was delighted by a birthday surprise of “Maria’s Special Rich Greek Chocolate Flourless Cake“.  Somehow we found room to savor the deep chocolatey richness and surprisingly light texture of this celebratory cake.

My unexpected birthday celebration was heightened by big laughs with close friends, delicious, deceptively simple and thoroughly Greek dishes and a few bottles of very chilled Greek Sauvignon Blanc.

Kali Orexi! (Bon Appetit)

Loi Restaurant is an easy walk to Lincoln Center (pre-theatre menu, $40 for  3 course and plenty to chose from if you are kosher like me) and just steps from the subway at 72/Broadway. In addition to an airy and comfortable dining room (love the fully upholstered chairs) there are three private dining rooms available for groups of 6-45 guests.

208 West 70th St. NYC

212-875-8600

14 Comments

  5. Love this post! I could actually visualize you being brought into the kitchen with your phone camera ready! This place sounds like a definite destination. Thank you for sharing Loi with us.

    Reply to this comment

  6. Great recipe. Found this recipe searching for the salmon over potatoes and calamata olives recipe from Loi on W58th St. Which my dad had pronounced the “best he ever had.” Made this one last night and he and my mom both loved it too.

    Reply to this comment

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SIDE DISH
Photo by Jerri Graham Photography

Hi. I’m Liz and I welcome you to Kosher Like Me.

When I’m not caressing fruits and veggies at my local farmers’ market you’ll likely find me chatting with like-minded eaters, probing the scene in NYC or seeking inspiration in my spice cabinet. Life outside of this blog is all about my family, tasty travel adventures and power walks deep in the CT woods or along the shore.

Please brew a fragrant cup of tea, grab a nosh and stay a while.