Milos Tsatsiki

Brad and I love to try new restaurants in the city. Our list of "to visits" is constantly growing, and I think we would probably have to eat out every night for the next month just to scratch off all the ones we currently have down. That being said, more often than not, we are constantly revisiting our favorites. We have our favorite brunch spot, local Italian, 24-hour diner and even our favorites for special occasions. I love trying new places, especially with the amazing press that many of the ones here in the city get, but I also crave the dishes from our most frequented spots.

One of the restaurants that we find ourselves at quite often is Estiatorio Milos. Milos is a Greek restaurant with a focus on seafood. Everything is super fresh, from the tomatoes, which they use for an unbelievable tomato salad, to the fish, which is actually laid out on ice for you to go up and select. We frequent Milos often in the summer for a light dinner and a bottle of white wine. We are especially fond of the Milos Special - which is thin cut and lightly fried pieces of zucchini, eggplant and saganaki cheese served with a phenomenal tsatsiki.

When I saw the recipe for their tsatsiki in the May 2008 Gourmet I almost screamed! It tastes exactly like it does in the restaurant, and is super simple to make. We put this on all kinds of veggies and even topped whole pitas with it for lunch. It has a creamy and tangy base thanks to the Greek yogurt, but the cucumber keeps it light and refreshing. I made a double batch of this and enjoyed pulling it out for a snack all week long. This would be an absolutely perfect dip with a big veggie plate.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes from last week! We are feeling much better now and are excited that it is finally warming up!

Milos Tsatsiki

Courtesy Estiatorio Milos 

1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons EVOO

1 cup Greek yogurt

• Toss cucumber with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a colander and let drain for at least 15 minutes.
• Mash minced garlic with 1/4 teaspoon salt, using back of knife, until it forms a paste.
• Whisk together garlic paste, EVOO, yogurt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
• Using hands, squeeze out any excess moisture from cucumbers, then fold into yogurt.
• Season with salt if necessary.