Parthenon Greek Supermarket, Vancouver & a GF rant

Spanakopita (Spinach pie) 

The best part of living in Vancouver is my proximity to good authentic eats if I'm craving it.  I live within 10 minutes of excellent foods from India, Greece, China, Japan, the Middle East, Italy, France and practically every other major country you can think of.  I'm so lucky. Today, the crave of the day was Greek.  The Parthenon is a Greek supermarket that's been around for ages.  It's always been there on W. Broadway as long as I can remember and I was born and raised in Vancouver.  Let me google it for you and see if I can find out.  Oh! Over 45 years!  that's pretty close to my age (which I shall stay mum about).

PANOS GREEK TAVERNA, REVISITED

Roast Lamb

This is what I come here for…a huge chunk of meat!  The succulent lamb meat falls off the bone and I like to squeeze lemon over all of it.    Rating:  6/6

The portions are hefty and waitresses always mistakenly deliver the lamb to Stomach instead of me.  He eats like a bird in general…picking off everyone’s dishes and doing “clean-up” duty as a good daddy should.

PANOS GREEK RESTAURANT

I really like Greek Salad.  It’s funny how I don’t like green peppers, onion and end up giving those elements to Stomach.  If I make it without the peppers and onions, it doesn’t taste right though.  This version was sufficiently seasoned and though tomatoes aren’t in season, and Vancouverites endure pinkish tomatoes most of the year, I still liked it. 

ATHENE’S GREEK RESTAURANT

Lamb shoulder casserole with lemon and white wine (special).  Rating:  4.5/6

I knew I should have ordered the regular roast lamb!  But the special sounded enticing with the white wine and the fork-tender description.  Though this was not a bad dish, I know that the regular roast lamb is really good and I think I would have been happier.  Don’t you hate it when you regret trying something new? argh.




I’m glad we didn’t forget to order the calamari because this was not disappointing at all.  The batter was light as a feather and the calamari was tender.  Rating:  6/6




















Bebe’s favourite Greek dish is spanakopita.  She even knows how to say it properly with the stress on the second from last syllable.  Her rating:  6/6

















A kiddie meal is only complete if there’s a carby sort of noodle of some sort.  Here we have a Baked Lasagna…Bebe’s favourite.  Her rating:  5/6














Bib ate the garlic bread and I must say she was a trooper because she wasn’t into having Greek food today though everyone else was!  You can’t have Asian food all the time you know (even though it looks as if we do) because you get oh-so-tired of it!  The kids always say something like “oh no…not Chinese/Japanese/dimsum again!”  I actually am not crazy about going out for Chinese in particular for dinner (unless it’s good banquet food)!  But Stomach and Bib love Asian food.  Bebe and I have palates that yearn for European flavours.  I love French/bistro fare and Bebe loves all Italian food.  She also likes Greek and to some degree Stomach likes it too.  However, Bib is the lone one out of the family but we’re training her slowly and she’s opening up to different foods.

I can’t wait until the kids can tolerate spicy foods.  Whenever I want Indian I have to order out for myself (my birthday usually!)  Or Thai! oh yum! 

You can’t go far in Vancouver without spotting an Asian restaurant, so though I yearn for all these other cuisines, we often end up eating Asian food because it’s cheap and Bib will get fed. 

Athene’s is one of my favourite Greek restaurants.  We’ve been coming here for years.   Service is good and the food is consistent.  I especially like a trio of dips:  tarama, humous and tzatziki with pita.  I didn’t get that this time because I thought I’d be too full.   The souvlaki is also good and I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad meal here. 

Athene’s is located on W. Broadway near Alma.  There’s parking on the streets and there’s transit nearby.