Anthos - Highly Recommended
36 W 52nd St, New York NY 10019
Btwn 5th & 6th Ave
Phone: (212) 582-6900
Huge fan of Kefi Michael Psilakis's casual Greek eatery, so it felt natural to check out Anthos his upscale Greek joint. Never could conceive Greek food done in an upscale manner, but he totally does it well. Pretty plating and great combinations of flavors. Overall, I give the restaurant an 89/100.
Our Menu
Lobster Bisque Amuse **
Creamy bisque with big lobster flavors. Nice way to start off the meal, but this reminds me more of french food than anything Greek related.
Raw Mezze ***
pickled sardine (apple, red cabbage, oregano); escolar (pickled mushroom, scallion aioli, mustard seed); salmon (celery root, smoked feta, dill, crispy shallot)
WTF textures and flavors. I've never heard of Greek food serving raw seafood, but this will rival any Italian crudo or Scandinavian gravlax. Great combination of textures and flavors - sweet, sour, and everything was very bright.
Greek Salad *
farmhouse vegetable, feta cheese, red wine vinaigrette
Good, but nothing remarkable and almost a let down at a place like this. Only thing that stood out was the olive oil and the cheese.
Seared Diver Scallop **
celeriac soup, cranberry caviar, brown butter
Direct contrast to the scallop at Jaleo - this was perfectly cooked. Beautifully seared on the outside and nice and medium rare on the inside. Flavor was heavenly with brown butter, creamy celeriac, and sweet/tart cranberries.
Smoked Octopus **
baby fennel, lemon confit, marinated mushrooms
Very smoky octopus that had a nice crispy exterior and soft interior. The lemon confit and marinated mushrooms provided some awesome contrast of flavors. I actually liked the ones at Kefi better, but Mr Risotto preferred these.
Sheep Milk Ricotta Dumpling **
peekytoe crab, wild spinach, leek, feta
Pretty confusing as this is a Greek restaurant that is knocking the gnocchi texture out of the park. Insanely light, soft, and fluffy with some fun combo's with the crab and feta. Sauce was a tad heavy in my opinion but still a great dish.
Rabbit Manti ***
vlahotiri cheese, dill, rabbit consomme
A complete WTF moment as this ravioli is much better than most raviolo served at top notch Italian restaurants. HUUUUGE rabbit flavor in the consomme and the filling. A big pet peeve of mine is having ravioli fillings either being pretty dry or not existent - e.g. A Voce Columbus. Not here my fellow dudes and dudettes, the ravioli is exploding with juiciness and it's filled nicely.
Cod Kourkouti **
mustard yogurt, cockle clam, grapefruit, tarragon vinaigrette
Surprising and delicious - the cod was fried like fish and chips. Crispy exterior and tender flavor cod. The combo with the grapefruit and mustard yogurt was a nice surprise. The most surprising was the cous cous. Usually, that's something to ignore for me, but here each individual grain had unique texture and the flavor was really out of control good.
Creamy bisque with big lobster flavors. Nice way to start off the meal, but this reminds me more of french food than anything Greek related.
Raw Mezze ***pickled sardine (apple, red cabbage, oregano); escolar (pickled mushroom, scallion aioli, mustard seed); salmon (celery root, smoked feta, dill, crispy shallot)
WTF textures and flavors. I've never heard of Greek food serving raw seafood, but this will rival any Italian crudo or Scandinavian gravlax. Great combination of textures and flavors - sweet, sour, and everything was very bright.
Greek Salad *
farmhouse vegetable, feta cheese, red wine vinaigrette
Good, but nothing remarkable and almost a let down at a place like this. Only thing that stood out was the olive oil and the cheese.
Seared Diver Scallop **
celeriac soup, cranberry caviar, brown butter
Direct contrast to the scallop at Jaleo - this was perfectly cooked. Beautifully seared on the outside and nice and medium rare on the inside. Flavor was heavenly with brown butter, creamy celeriac, and sweet/tart cranberries.
Smoked Octopus **
baby fennel, lemon confit, marinated mushrooms
Very smoky octopus that had a nice crispy exterior and soft interior. The lemon confit and marinated mushrooms provided some awesome contrast of flavors. I actually liked the ones at Kefi better, but Mr Risotto preferred these.
Sheep Milk Ricotta Dumpling **
peekytoe crab, wild spinach, leek, feta
Pretty confusing as this is a Greek restaurant that is knocking the gnocchi texture out of the park. Insanely light, soft, and fluffy with some fun combo's with the crab and feta. Sauce was a tad heavy in my opinion but still a great dish.
Rabbit Manti ***vlahotiri cheese, dill, rabbit consomme
A complete WTF moment as this ravioli is much better than most raviolo served at top notch Italian restaurants. HUUUUGE rabbit flavor in the consomme and the filling. A big pet peeve of mine is having ravioli fillings either being pretty dry or not existent - e.g. A Voce Columbus. Not here my fellow dudes and dudettes, the ravioli is exploding with juiciness and it's filled nicely.
Cod Kourkouti **
mustard yogurt, cockle clam, grapefruit, tarragon vinaigrette
Surprising and delicious - the cod was fried like fish and chips. Crispy exterior and tender flavor cod. The combo with the grapefruit and mustard yogurt was a nice surprise. The most surprising was the cous cous. Usually, that's something to ignore for me, but here each individual grain had unique texture and the flavor was really out of control good.
Poached Seckel Pear ***
thassos sable, chocolate cream, olive ice cream, sandemans rainwater madeira
A complete WTF dessert. The pear was incredibly soft and flavorful, but mixed with the chocolate and the olive ice cream - this was to die for. And yes, olive ice cream - salty and tasting like olives and dairy which would seem odd, but perfectly paired with the sweet pear. I've noticed they're into having some salinity in their desserts which I'm a big fan of.
thassos sable, chocolate cream, olive ice cream, sandemans rainwater madeira
A complete WTF dessert. The pear was incredibly soft and flavorful, but mixed with the chocolate and the olive ice cream - this was to die for. And yes, olive ice cream - salty and tasting like olives and dairy which would seem odd, but perfectly paired with the sweet pear. I've noticed they're into having some salinity in their desserts which I'm a big fan of.
Lemon Cotton Candy and Petit Fors **
Huge lemon flavor in the cotton candy - perfect texture and more lemony than sweet. Pretty great stuff. The chocolate petit fors was good, but nothing to differentiate from the many places in NY.
Huge lemon flavor in the cotton candy - perfect texture and more lemony than sweet. Pretty great stuff. The chocolate petit fors was good, but nothing to differentiate from the many places in NY.
Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way
Overall Restaurant Experience (89/100)
- Food (9.0/10) – Never thought I would enjoy elevated Greek food this much, but I 100% do. Beautiful plating, but more importantly delicious food that was pretty surprising. Still shocked about them rocking awesome Italian dishes.
- Service (8.4/10) – Servers was pretty good. Food came out a quick pace and the servers were friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. Only issue I had was Mr. Risotto had bones in his fish dish - no issues with ours though.
- Atmosphere (8.0/10) – All white walls and heavily starched table cloths and napkins. Place was half empty. Filled with a much older crowd - average age was upper 40's and we were definitely the youngest. Kinda like Babbo where it's an upscale restaurant, but they're playing some rock music. Felt less stuffy than Babbo though. Got reservations and were seated immediately.
- Price (9.0) – Spectacular deal for the quality - 4 courses for 65; not including the free stuff with the amuse and cotton candy.
Food was great here and I would definitely be down to come back; though I'm more into Kefi due to the quality, price, and more relaxed atmosphere.
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