BREAKING NEWS | THIS WEEK'S ISSUE

Restaurant Review

Harry Hatziparaskevas. Can there be any doubt that a man bearing such a name is one of great stature?

Just signing autographs would tire mere mortals. That may be why Harry doesn't. He is a star chef who stays in the kitchen, doing what he has done for many years: cooking Greek classics as well as anyone can.

Chef Hatziparaskevas stoked the savory fires of Ithaka during a successful seven-year stint on Barrow Street. After deciding that it was time for a change, he learned that the location of Estia, a venerable Greek restaurant/nightclub on East 86th Street, was available. HH joined forces with Tim Vlahopoulos, a man who has the same tenure in the service of food as the chef has in its preparation.

Their new Ithaka is a deep and roomy restaurant with clean lines, exposed brick walls-painted white as you progress into the interior-and a stone floor whose white grout provides bold contrast on the surface. Recessed ceiling lighting at the rear of the room is filtered through white fabric. Then there are the hard-bottomed cane chairs.

The pleasures of Ithaka's table are so delightful that you will sit there for a while. It isn't that the menu is full of surprises, but rather that every dish has remarkably consistent quality. Chef Hatziparaskevas always coaxes maximum flavor from each facet of a dish.

I could happily spend hours on Ithaka appetizers ($5 to $10). There are five dips, based on cucumber, eggplant, fava beans, garlic or fish roe. Aware that many restaurants buy some of these premade, I asked if the taramasalata (fish roe salad) was blended in-house. You bet, and what's more, HH prepares it for the International Foods market on Ninth Avenue, a noted ethnic retailer.

Other first-course old favorites sing with fresh good taste. Char-grilled octopus is fork-tender, bite-sized and irresistible. Similarly grilled Greek sausage called loukaniko is uncommonly tangy, as fresh herbs and spices combine with orange zest. Saganaki, cheese fried or flambeed in lemon and butter, is a mouthful of rich and lively goodness.

The list goes on, with crisp-edged lamb patties in a spicy tomato sauce, red wine-marinated quail served over arugula, and green peppers stuffed with three cheeses and drizzled with olive oil and lemon. Fine ingredients and execution make conventional salads stand up and shout. A firm block of first-rate feta cheese and large, dark and succulent olives are but two elements of the horiatiki-Greek salad.

When it comes time to shift into second, the cordial waitstaff trots out a platter brimming with the catch of the day. Expect to select from the likes of red snapper, branzini, porgy, loup de mer, bass and giant freshwater prawns. All may be simply grilled with a basting of lemon, oil and fresh herbs ... unless they are destined to be baked in Ithaka's clay pots,

Snapper baked with fresh tomatoes and garlic and served over aromatic orzo is one delightful way to go. The jumbo prawns--blue points farmed in Texas--get the same treatment, plus a splash of ouzo and a topping of melted cheese.

Chef HH's clay pots also lend homey character to baby lamb, as well as a rabbit stew to remember, replete with pearl onions, tomatoes and layered seasonings permeating the exceptionally tender, lean meat.

Ithaka's grills sizzle with rib steak, pork and lamb chops, and whole or breast of chicken. The restaurant also offers a pasta item: fettuccine with shrimp, prawns and crab legs in fresh tomato sauce.

Greek desserts are often predictable and boring, but not here. Baklava is good, the phyllo-wrapped custard called galaktoboureko is better, and loukoumades, golden dumplings glazed with honey and walnuts, are great. We're talking $4 items, including an almond-semolina cake and an unnecessary creme caramel.

One modest nit, foodwise: The scallops in a dish called youvetsi were soggy.

At this writing, a full bar license is expected almost any minute. Ithaka is serving wines and beer; the wine list includes fairly priced bottles from Greece and around the world. Host Vlahopoulos--who earned his spurs at Aureole, La Côte Basque, The Carlisle and Periyali--is a worthy guide to pleasing pairings of wine with specific dishes.

Ithaka
308 E. 86th St.
(212) 628-9100
* * ½

Cuisine: Greek
Wines: 65 choices, seven by the glass
Dress: No code
Noise Level: Moderate
Price Range: $16-$25
Wine Markup: 100%-260%
Credit Cards: All major
Reservations: Recommended
Hours: Dinner, seven days, 4:30-11 p.m.; Lunch/Brunch, weekends, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

****= Outstanding
***= Excellent
**= Very good
*= Good

BITS & BITES

Pit master on fire: Adam Perry Lang, whose Daisy May BBQ USA is a runaway takeout hit, will hit the road with chili carts. He has retrofitted six pushcarts and plans to have two of them in the Wall Street area and other population-dense sites in a week. Owner/chef Lang is also looking to establish a number of other Daisy May locations in New York.

Just a little longer, folks: Yet more finishing touches are being applied to a trio of eagerly awaited openings. The big Spice Market on Ninth Avenue is on a late-January track, while Riingo and Vento appear focused on February fanfare.

Going suburban: Robert Trainor, former executive sous chef at the Waldorf-Astoria, is new top toque at the highly regarded Hilton Short Hills in New Jersey. Nuevo Latino expert Rafael Palomino and longtime partner Moe Gad are taking to Portchester, N.Y., or vice versa. They've opened seafood-themed Pacifico, five minutes from their Latino operation, Sonora.

He's out! Jerry Casale, Red Sox pitcher-turned-restaurateur, has shuttered Pino's Restaurant in Murray Hill after a 28-year run.

Sundown: Sunny East, a Chinese stalwart in the garment district, reviewed here Aug. 22, 1988, has closed.

Copyright 2004, Crain Communications, Inc

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