Terrific Takeout: Telio Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
Yanni Berbei, Owner of Telio
The glorious grilled octopus! And fresh lavraki:
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It's an exciting day when we find a new-to-us venue with fabulously authentic cuisine with an owner that genuinely cares, and this is the case in our first visit at Telio! We were delighted to stroll to the Upper West side to meet Yanni and his bastion of tremendously delicious Mediterranean cuisine, which is more refreshing than ever in the summer. And also, it is healthy. In 1989, he came to America from Greece from the village Katouna, and Telio opened in 2004. Yanni tells us about 90% of his clientele are locals, and we even met his mom! For our salad, we chose the Grilled Shrimp Salad, which was a total standout. Mixed Green Salad has a party with avocado and ripe tomatoes in a hearty portion, and the shrimp are fresh and splendidly grilled. The first bite of this announced how committed Telio is to Greek Authentic Cuisine.
Next in the batting order was the octopus we tried: it was ideally grilled to perfection and was divinely tender. Don't let the casual decor of Telio fool you: they are extremely serious about getting their food right.
The grilled octopus is further enhanced with capers, red peppers, bermuda onion, and red wine vinaigrette. You have to march yourself to Telio to try this. It's one of the best things we've eaten all summer!
The Telio hit parade continued with our entree, the Branzino, otherwise known as Fresh Lavraki on the menu.
It comes directly from Greece, and this triumphant fish has a wonderful flavor, texture and is tangy and absolutely delicious.
It is so terrific it is the kind of entree you start thinking about eating when you get up in the morning and are eating your breakfast counting down the hours until dinner!
We ordered ours with a side of sauteed spinach, which was exactly as you'd want it to be. We loved the garlic.
Finally, if you've read us before, you know who's favorite greek item period is spinach pie. Peachy Deegan has visions of spinach pie, not sugarplums, dancing in her head the night before a greek restaurant. How was this one? The dough was fresh, the dill (one of the best flavors and highly underutilized) was outstanding, and it's perfectly soft with a great spinach stuffing. This did not last long at all and we can't wait to eat it again!!!
The spinach pie monster does not share, sorry, so you will have to go to Telio and try:
Telio is Terrific Takeout!!!
