A young, enthusiastic staff gives Acropolis Greek Taverna a modern buzz. The Ybor City address doesn't hurt, either.
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published November 27, 2003
[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]
Acropolis Greek Taverna owner Sam Waez and server Brigid Ochshorn serve a flaming plate of saganaki to Sandy Pappas and her husband, Gary Ward of Tampa, on a recent Thursday. It was the couple’s first time at the restaurant, and her birthday.
TAMPA - The food on Acropolis' menu is the familiar stuff of gyros, spanakopita, moussaka and such. Looks like a Greek restaurant too, big fat fake columns, a mural of the namesake landmark, all in blue and white. Depending on your taste, it's nicer than many or more overdone.
What's radically new is the energy and youth of the place; a young staff and crowd punked out in black and tattoo blue who are hip-hopping to bouzouki all day and deep into the night (3 a.m. on weekends).
It's as if everyone had swallowed all the grounds from the Greek coffee with extra sugar - or poured Metaxa on the floor and lit up the dining room with a disco "Opa!"
Actually what Sam and Costa Waez added to the standard Greek recipe was Ybor City and the savvy to see that this simple cooking fits a high energy wet zone just as easily as it does a family diner or the sponge docks.
The bare midriffs of Generation J.Lo and twirling tassels of XXXbor are nothing new to belly dancers. Put some frenetic bouzouki on a continuous loop and it'll have a rapper's head spinning; fire up the house band, two teenagers with adult singers, a belly dancer and a sinuous line of servers and cooks and the joint may be sexier than Masquerade.
If Ybor is better suited for drinking than eating, Acropolis makes a needed break for solid fuel in a night of clubbing - and is lively enough to substitute for one. And yet it works during the day, too: While old Ybor was home to more Spaniards, Cubans, Italians and Jews than Greeks, they shared an Old World affection for places to sit, talk, eat and drink a little. In that, Acropolis proves a worthy neighbor to the Tropic, the power sandwich place across the street, for all day noshing and joshing.
It's one more success in Tampa Bay's Greek revival dining that has made a very old cuisine go uptown (Grillmarks) to join the takeout trend (Athenian Gardens and Louis Pappas Marketplace Cafe).
They all rest on a classic foundation: Everyone loves Greek food. Somehow its hearty warmth feeds our appetite for comfort, while salads, feta and hummus appease our healthy-seeking consciences.
Acropolis updates those staples (and their prices) a bit, adding mixed greens to give Greek salads a gourmet touch; offering roasted squash and eggplant, and tossing french fries with peppery spices and crumbles of feta. It also stretches the wine list beyond retsina to include a dozen drier modern Greek wines.
Otherwise the cooking is traditional and basic, which can be very, very good, as in the moussaka, where bechamel sauce becomes a puff of custard instead of a clog of cheese.
Or it can be lackluster, like the keftedes: with mint or oregano these can be the best meatballs in the Mediterranean; without, they are dry hamburger. Spanakopita pie was dreary, with soggy spinach and cheese in limp phyllo, served lukewarm; convenience stores in Tarpon Springs have better at half the price.
Seafood is at best middling. Marinated octopus was not as springy as it should be; shrimp scampi was tired. For a sandwich on pita, gyro meat was too dry; fresh-cooked pork souvlaki was much better.
As always, Greek food is improved by sauces and dips and Acropolis does those well, starting with tzaziki, yogurt tarted up with fresh cucumber and onion. That's the base for a great feta spread, while olive oil punches up both hummus and taramasalata, salty with fish roe. Eggplant spread, something of a rarity, is smoother than baba ghanouj. Only skordalia sagged: there was ample garlic but I'd have added more lemon and made the whole affair creamier.
Breads, pita and pastries were the stuff that is a wholesale staple around Tampa Bay, but the hip, young service is an innovation. The management, however, should allow the staff to offer diners fresh utensils instead of asking us to keep the same forks from course to course.
Still, Ybor City's offerings often seem limited to wings, Cubans, sushi and barbecue, so a big helping of blue plate fare is a welcome addition.
Myself, I remain hungry for modern Greek, a fresh taste of this old cuisine, with a stronger flavor of the grill and the garden, the pastures and the sea: fresh fish and lamb, beans and greens, lustily seasoned with olive oil, lemon and herbs.
To reach that point, however, Greek cooking must remain alive and recharged. Its successful reinvention at the Acropolis in Ybor shows it has the energy and appeal for another millennium.
We'll reach the top yet.
Acropolis Greek Taverna
1833 E Seventh Ave.
Tampa
(813) 242-4545 Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
