Mythos Taverna had been a North Shore bastion of traditional Greek food since 1993, occupying a space at 18th Street and Lonsdale Avenue. Then in April of this year, something fascinating happened.
Long-time Lower Lonsdale favourite, the Crete-inspired Pasparos Taverna, closed after more than 40 successful years, the owners retiring after a truly admirable run in a gruelling, unforgiving industry. They sold the large, sun-soaked room to Mythos chef and owner Nick Fikeris, who renovated the space, relocated his North Shore News Readers’ Choice-winning Mythos, and opened it in time for our hot summer, drawing regular patrons from both restaurants, as well as Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood newbies, into the inviting south-facing atrium that, in my opinion, offers one of the coziest dining environments on the North Shore.
I have spent many an evening in that space having lived in a shoebox of a condo in a neighbouring building years ago with my wife, and so I am glad to see that trusted, flavour-forward Greek cuisine continues to prevail in that location. I visited Mythos on a recent sunny Thursday evening with my sometimes co-conspirator Adam, scoring a prized atrium table nestled between two large groups that more or less filled the remainder of the space, making for a bustling atmosphere. I am pleased to say we snuck our dinner order in before either of the groups had a chance and enjoyed swift, efficient service on what must have surely been a breakneck pace dinner for the restaurant.
We began our evening with a round of eponymous Mythos beer, a straightforward, food-friendly Greek lager. Arriving soon after our first sips of beer were two dips from the appetizer menu, an orange-hued Feta Pate with a pleasant burst of spiciness, topped with marinated red peppers and capers, and my all-time favourite Greek appetizer, Taramasalata, a traditional blend of cured carp roe (tarama) with lemon, breadcrumbs, and olive oil, all whipped into a fluffy, rich and pleasingly salty dip for consumption atop warm strips of buttered pita bread.
Next up, this time paired with a crisp, citrusy New Zealand sauvignon blanc, was a fantastic example of Saganaki, or lightly breaded, pan-fried sheep’s milk cheese served in a sizzling pan with lemon juice. The cheese (my palate cannot discern the differences between fried halloumi, kefalotyri, or kefalograviera cheeses, I’m afraid) had the signature supple but still firm texture of great saganaki and was fried just enough to give the breading a golden hue. The addition of fresh squeezed lemon partially arrests further cooking in the hot pan and imparts a nice counterbalance to the creamy, salty, heady cheese.
We moved on to a fourth appetizer, this time a perfectly grilled, house made pork sausage that was bursting with moisture and studded with fragrant coriander seeds, adding a perfumed complexity to the dense sausage. Appetizers, of which there are well over 20 on the Mythos menu, range from $7 to $15. Sampler plates contain eight items and can be ordered in small or large sizes for $26 or $45 respectively.
Mythos offers some inspired shareable main course options that I think represent great value, especially given the enormous portions. Adam and I opted for one such option, a dinner platter for two that included roast lamb, grilled marinated chicken, dolmathes (beef filled grape leaf wraps), kefthedes (grilled and seasoned ground beef patties), fried calamari, lemon roasted potatoes, tzatziki, Greek salad, and heaps of pita. This enormous platter, which was not only enough for the two of us for dinner, but furnished us both with lunch the next day, was reasonably priced at $60. Other meal platters for two include, in different combinations, items like halibut, salmon, scallops, prawns, moussaka, spanakopita, chicken souvlaki, or lamb chops.
Every item on the platter was delicious in its own right. As you might expect if you’ve had any experience with Greek roasted lamb in the past, that item was staggeringly tender, melt in the mouth succulent, and bursting with the flavours of its roasting jus. I anticipated this, however, so perhaps that’s why the lamb, though excellent, was not my favourite thing on the plate.
In fact, it was the calamari that absolutely rocked my reviewer’s world. The squid was cut into rings, lightly battered and fried. OK, that’s textbook calamari so far. Where it departed from 90 per cent of what you find on the local market, however, was in the thin, ribbon-like quality of the rings. These were lightweight morsels of squid, cooked to a perfect temperature and revealing an impossibly delicate texture, not like the meaty, often chewy examples you encounter in the local pub. The breading was subtle, unobtrusive and used to impart just a hint of crispiness and seasoning to the ultra fresh squid. Great stuff.
I also concluded that the dolmathes were among the best I’ve ever eaten, fragrant and juicy with a tang to the marinated grape leaves. I will confess that I have never been a big fan of dolmathes, try as I might to warm up to them, but Mythos’s version has kept them in contention as a possibility for a future appetizer order. Our lemon roasted potatoes had a crispy exterior and tender interior, marrying well with the potent garlic-laden tzatziki, while the kefthedes retained a desirable moisture in the middle. Adam and I both remarked on the succulence and complexity of the chicken as well, a protein neither of us are particularly inclined to order in a restaurant as a matter of course.
An Argentinian Malbec matched nicely with the main course items, though I would encourage the team to look into more of the fantastic Greek red wines that are now available in our market for future winelist updates; I think the well-structured, complex and slightly floral profile of a Xinomavro would work well with many of the meaty dishes here.
132 West 3rd Street, North Vancouver. Mythostaverna.ca. 604.984.7411
