going greek, east village style

This Wednesday Blake and I will have been married for three years, and to celebrate, we spent Saturday evening together, sans Garrett, in the city.

After gathering some recommendations from co-workers, Blake made reservations at Pylos (pronounced pee-lohs), a Greek restaurant bedecked with clay pots in the East Village.

Have you ever eaten Greek food? Because if you haven't, I highly suggest you drop everything and go try some. For an appetizer we ate saganaki tou merakli (or, three Greek cheeses melted in a clay pot) served with the most delicious slices of pita bread and hummus. It being a Greek restaurant, I'd wanted to order a lamb dish for dinner, but eventually settled on papia psiti me thymarisio meli kai xinomila (or, pan-seared breast of duck glazed with Greek thyme honey and served with homemade garlic mashed potatoes). I don't think I could have made a better choice. I'm still salivating over the savory tenderness of that sweetened bird. Blake ate klassito kotopoulo stifado (or, freerange chicken, braised in spiced red wine and onions, served over old fashioned Greek pasta). He loved it, and, based on the few bites I tasted, I can understand why.

Before and after our meal, we wandered (hand-in-hand, of course) throughout the East Village. What a fun part of the city! The residents are mostly young and all funky and you literally can find just about anything there, from witches to wedding boutiques. We enjoyed walking in and around a fun little children's shop, as well as a few bookstores. As we passed by the Ukrainian Catholic church, we were tickled by the lovely sticks of pussy willows the elderly Eastern European congregation were holding as they wrapped up what we presumed to be a religious ceremony perhaps involving the Orthodox Easter season. Back at home, we completed the evening with a bowl of black raspberry ice cream and Juno (which is a fabulous movie, by the way).

It was a fantastic evening -- one that could only have been made better by a glowing report from Garrett's babysitters. Unfortunately, because our baby decided he'd dink around in the crib instead of take a solid afternoon nap, we didn't get that glowing report. What a stinker! Luckily Emily and Adam are resilient and aren't letting our cranky child question their current pregnant state -- at least not for too long. (Thanks again, guys...we owe you.)