Barbounia

When I want to go out for a nice meal and try to order something healthy, I find the white fish at Greek and Mediterranean restaurants light yet satisfying. Since I'm competing this week, I am trying to eat more fish.



Barbounia is a Mediterranean restaurant just north of Union Square. The white walls practically sing to you that delicious Greek food is in your future. Barbounia is a blend of Greek, Southern Italian and French food, but I go there for the Greek food (readers, stick to the Greek food, the Greek dishes are by far the best dishes on the menu).



Most Greek restaurants have an old school, family feel and wouldn't work for a fun Saturday night dinner with girlfriends. But Barbounia's lively music and trendy crowd makes for a festive evening.





Barbounia offers an extensive International wine menu, featuring affordable choices and high quality half bottles, like Pascal Jolivet's Sancerre.



I could tell you all about the restaurant (ok, I will obviously tell you all about the restaurant) but the most important thing you need to know is that Barbounia has the tastiest bread in town. The long loaf of bread is taken out of the wood burning oven, placed on a carving board, and served piping hot on your table. There is a sharp nice for you to slice up the loaf but I would recommend using a fork as well to avoid searing your finger tips.



The fresh bread is lightly spiced and is perfect for dipping into the traditional Greek dips featured on Barbounia's menu (although I am certainly guilty of enjoying most of the bread without first dipping it into the hummus).



Barbounia's menu offers several seafood options for appetizers and entrees. In the past, a few of the dishes tasted too salty. If you like your food without salt or only lightly salted, as I do, I would recommend telling the waiter you would like your dish without salt. That way you can decide how much salt you want in your dish.



What to Eat:



The dips at Barbounia are all delicious. You can order each dip separately or a combination of any 3 or 5 dips, which include Greek staples like tzatziki, spicy feta and roasted eggplant. And by ordering the dips, you have an excuse to keep asking the busboy for loaves of bread.



When I visit Barbounia, I frequently order the seafood special for an appetizer and/or entree. This time, we ordered the scallop appetizer, which included three large scallops. The scallops were tender (not chewy or fishy). I would recommend ordering this appetizer if it is offered as a special.



The Fish of the Day, which happened to be a grilled lup de mar for two people. You can choose to have the whole fish or have the fish filleted. We opted to have the fish filleted to avoid choking on bones (they really did a great job filleting the fish). The white fish, light and flaky, was exactly what I was in the mood for.























Roasted Lemon Potatoes. When you order the market fish for two, it comes with two sides of your choice. For one of our sides, we opted for the roasted lemon potatoes. The potatoes were marinated in lemon and perfectly cooked. Sometimes potatoes are over cooked/too hard/dried out but these potatoes were soft and flavored with the perfect amount of lemon.












Insider tip: Barbounia is great for group brunch on the weekends (they take reservations) and has an excellent happy hour scene.



In need of a fun night out in NYC without putting on too many lbs? I found your spot,




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