Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Soup, Squid and Scallops c/o D'Mitri's

After our dinner at Pub and Kitchen, T. and I planned on getting together again and trying a new place. This ended up taking months of planning, mainly because I lead a very interesting and full life. Ha. After some discussion, we decided that it was time to give Dmitri's a shot. I first heard of the establishment from excellent champagne popper V. at L.'s bachelorette weekend. V. basically said it was the best seafood restaurant in Philly, and that I should really go. Nearly a year later I finally made good on my assurance that I would do so. It's BYO, so we brought a bottle of Italian wine, which makes perfect sense for a Greek restaurant. Pysche. I started with a bowl of the gazpacho, which was a special that night. I liked it. I think I like my gazpacho with a little more of a kick somehow. Basically I like gazpacho that borders on salsa. Still, it was refreshing.
We shared the grilled octopus appetizer. And folks, this dish is no joke. I have never had such tender tentacles. With just a little lemon, oh man, a nice grilled taste, no heavy chewing. Very special.
I chose the scallops as my main course, pan fried. In some fancy seafood places you pay $18 for, like, one scallop. That was not the case here, as the plate placed in front of me was brimming with eight nicely crispy on the outside but tremulously tender on the inside scallops. Tremulously tender? I just like the way it sounds, let's move on.
The rice and greens that came with the dish didn't blow me away, but they were above average in terms of having been seasoned nicely.
T. ordered the chicken skewer special. The meat chunks were charred in a good way and had a nice flavor to them. We both commented that perhaps they were a little, eetsy beetsy bit dry, but that didn't stop T. from enjoying them, nor me from sampling.
We went way early, like senior citizen-style, because all the reviews say that it's quite busy/difficult later in the evening. While I enjoyed the meal and thought everything was good, I didn't fall in love with the place. If I were forced to recommend only one BYO restaurant in the city, it would still, hands down, be Modo Mio. But if asked for a recommendation for good Greek, I would definitely say that this is the place. Sorry Zorba's.

4 comments:

nc catherine said...

Scallops have become one of my most favorite foods. I hate to see three for 20 dollars on some goofy menu so yep you lucked out! I have been working on my pan searing techniques (these look definitely yummy but definitely more than merely pan fried) so if there are scallops in Waves maybe we can get some. I got some a few weekends back when we went to the coast and they were great!

I am waiting for the magic of fresh soft shells too...

cc said...

It's funny. I associate my first ever scallop experience with you Catherine. I remember you being very excited about the whole thing; but not being convinced that I really wanted to eat the things in front of me. I did eat them. And they were cooked well (in retrospect) but at the time I was really unsure about the whole thing.

Ha.

nc catherine said...

Oh do tell when that was! I like being involved in good "first evers." My most awesome scallop adventure was with sister E on our way to drop me off at dance camp at Connecticut College back in the day and we stumbled in to this roadside tavern sort of place somewhere outside New London. They had a scallop special: about 25 fat happy scallops simmering in a buttery garlicky scallop juicey broth. Browned on top with a hint of parmesan. Oh wow. Best scallops ever! That same summer I experienced the craziness of musaka pizza...it was good if weird.

cc said...

It was probably during my visit in 8th grade ish. J. was small. I remember being in the big house's kitchen and , as I said before, being a bit skeptical. And I'm not sure I loved them that first time. But i understood that they were something to try to like.