Kati Allo
29-06 172nd Street and Francis Lewis Boulevard
Telephone: 718-939-1616
Hours: Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
Open for brunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday; $9.95 per person
Web site: www.katiallo.com
You do not have to travel to Greece to experience great Greek food. Celebrating their 10th anniversary, Kati Allo, which means “something different,” is right here in Queens.
On busy Francis Lewis Boulevard, the husband and wife team of Emmanuel and Christine Zavolas welcome you to their charming restaurant. Its warm and inviting dining room opens to another room that is perfect for parties of up to 35 people. Then on warm days, a charming outdoor patio awaits you. How we all long to be able to sit out there….
But back to reality and a delicious meal, which we began with a traditional Greek salad, filled with chunks of tangy feta cheese. To accompany the salad we sampled the grilled octopus and grilled calamari, each cooked just right – crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and perfectly spiced.
It is not possible to be in a Greek restaurant without also having the sampling of Greek spreads, accompanied by continuously refilled crispy pita bread enhanced with oregano. They were perfect with the spreads.
For our main courses, we sampled a few different dishes. My favorite was special
Seafood al a Katie Allo, the fish combo of filet of sole, shrimp and scallops sitting on top of a bed of rice with sautéed onions and peppers. I was offered pasta but chose the well-cooked rice. We also ordered pork souvlaki, tender marinated, well-herbed cubes served with Greek white sauce on the side. Rice accompanied the dish but French fried potatoes could be substituted. One of the specials of the evening was a dish combining eggplant stuffed with Greek herbed chop meat with orzo.
Dishes of homemade Greek sausage are available and several types of shrimp can be cooked to your order.
Beer and wine are available.
Of course, no meal is complete without dessert, and baklava was my choice. It was just right, crispy on the outside with chopped nuts and honey filling. Of course Greek coffee is available and when turned over maybe you’ll get lucky and someone will be able to read the coffee grinds.
All the dishes are moderately priced, and available for home delivery.
On alternate Thursdays there is a wine and cheese tasting with Greek wines and exotic appetizers at 7:30 p.m. for only $19!
Try it, you will like it!
