Ovelia
Address 34-01 30th Avenue (corner of 34th St) Astoria, NY 11103
Phone 718-721-7217
Specialty Dishes from the Grill-Authentic Greek meats & seafood Schedule
Open for Lunch & Dinner seven days: Lunch: Monday
Sunday 11:30 am to 5 pm. Dinner: Sunday to Thursday 5:30 pm to 11:00 pm Friday- Saturday 5:30 pm to 12:00 Midnight. Brunch: 11:30 am to 3:30 pm
Capacity Seats 55 in Dining room, 11 at the bar, plus in the summer 40 in sidewalk café.
Open November 30th 2006
Plastic Amex, Visa, MasterCard
Parking Curbside
Price range Lunch menu: $10-14 Dinner menu: $25.-30
Ownership Chris Giannakas and Elias Mandilaras
Features The Hellenic influence in the specialty cocktails unique esoteric wine list is apparent.
Having graduated from culinary schools, Mandilaras has extensive hands-on experience through years of occupying responsible posts with companies such as B.R.Guest and Restaurant Associates. The restaurant’s name denotes "the spit" where a lamb is prepared, from Oveliskos (gr.) Obeliscus (Lat) a long, narrow instrument pointy at one end.
Ovelia
Review
Ovelia Restaurant
Breathtakingly contemporary, with a fireplace in the background and two gas-fired flames, contained in clear tubes over it, Ovelia , which denotes
the "spit" on which a lamb is prepared in Greek, with its delightful mix of traditional-elements and ultra-modern, and its corner setting with tables
spilling out onto the sidewalk, is not located in the trendy "Meat Packing District" of Manhattan but resides in an international area of Astoria Queens. The cocktails are exotic and potent; service is friendly and efficient and the food is as creative as it is delicious. It’s also about 40% less than a comparable Manhattan restaurant, which will more than pay for a good
bottle of wine from the excellent list. Besides the fabulous appetizers (some of the best cold Greek dips I’ve ever tasted) and grilled specialties such as marvelous grilled sweetbreads, liver and homemade sausage), there are fun inventions like shrimp, wrapped in eggplant and a lightened-up moussaka. Desserts like honey-coated Greek fritters are standouts.
The story of the establishment
If ever a restaurant qualifies to be called a "family affair," Ovelia for certain fits the bill!
In fact, at this point it isn’t one, but two families now involved in its operation, both of which can be described as clans of restaurateurs.
The idea evolved from a dream that a young man outside the restaurant business had for quite a while. Chris Giannakas had never worked in restaurants, but his father John and his mother List were both remarkable foodies, particularly his father who spent many years as the chef of the family-owned restaurant in Athens called To Pikantiko. Chris wanted to develop the idea into a viable spot that served select Greek dishes and at the same time provide his clientele with a pleasant environment removed from the run-of-the-mill, traditional décor that is almost a cliché of places serving Greek food.
So the idea of such a restaurant of authentic Greek food and a trendy modern look was no news to Chris Giannakas, a young entrepreneur with a political background and a flair extraordinaire for décor and design. It was he who sparked the interest in his parents, John and Evangelia (Litsa) Giannakas, who gave him their support for it to take flesh and bones. He and his brother Peter came up with the name after watching a mythology program.
Just about a year ago, Chris got in touch with the construction firm of George Mandilaras and asked him if he would do the project. Mandilaras who once owned Taverna Kyklades accepted the project. After he agreed to lease the space, George Mandilaras expressed an interest in becoming a full partner. Having handled all the administrative work before opening, Chris designed the general layout of the restaurant, the interior design and other details, including the restaurant logo. Finally, as the time for the opening approached, early in November 2006, George Mandilaras, whose son Elias’ background was in the hospitality industry, having studied and having extensive experience with the B.R.Guest company’s restaurants made him a partner as well. Now the two young men have been working so well together, their parents from either side have entrusted them the full operation of the establishment.
Chef’s bio
As originally conceived, the Giannakas family kept their exclusivity as far as the food part of the business. John and Evangelia (Litsa) Giannakas, both born in Athens, (John hails from the suburb of Aigaleon,) were married in their native land and by the time they migrated to the US, they already had one son, Chris. Both John and Evangelia loved to cook, in fact they had a family restaurant there, (having been opened by an uncle) where John had perfected the art of cooking, and where Evangelia too had become an able chef, starting with 1973. The name of the restaurant was To Pikantiko (translated into English as The Picant or Spicy.) This restaurant too qualified as a Psistaria, meaning Charcoal Grill, though it carried all of the casserole dishes as well. But John’s experience extended beyond the experience he got from working in the family restaurant, since he also was a cook during his Greek Navy years before going into the business. One can say that this is where he was anointed as a chef.
Appetizer Menu (Aug. 2007)
zedes - appetizers - mezedes - appetizers - mezedes - appetizers
kafteri spicy feta cheese spread 7
taramosalata cod roe spread 6
tzatziki yogurt, cucumber and garlic dip 6
skordalia potato garlic spread 6
melitzanosalata eggplant dip 6
pikilia dips taramosalata, tzatziki and melitzanosalata 14
cold meze
hot meze
tiria pikilia broiled feta, kefalograviera and grilled halloumi 15
cheeses
kontosouvli seasoned rotisserie pork 12
kalamari tiganito fried calamari 9.5
htapodi stin skara octopus braised in red wine then grilled 11.5
ovelia pikilia sauteed sweetbreads, veal liver, chicken, pork 21
and ovelia loukaniko
calamari croquettes seasoned ground calamari 9
kolokithokeftedes zucchini croquettes 9
saganaki broiled kefalograviera cheese 6.5
ovelia loukaniko our specialty house sausage 9.5
spanakopita spinach pie 7
Entrees
seafood- simply grilled- seafood - simply grilled - seafood - simply grilled - seafood
solomos stin skara grilled salmon 17
galeos (seasonal) grilled baby shark steaks served w/ skordalia 17
garides psites grilled jumbo shrimp 19
filet of sole 17
tuna steak 22
whole fish
red snapper mp
porgie mp
sea bass mp
sides - sides - sides - sides - sides - sides - sides - sides - sides - sides - sides - sides
french fries 5
oven roasted lemon potatoes 5
white rice w/ orzo 5
broccoli rabe 6
beets 6
caserole specialties - caserole specialties - caserole specialties - caserole
mousaka layers of potato, eggplant, ground beef in 12.5
tomato sauce topped w/ bechamel cream
pasticio ziti pasta, seasoned ground beef topped with 11.5
bechamel cream
above served w/ lemon potatoes
garides ovelia six jumbo shrimp, wrapped in roasted eqqplant, 22
baked in a rich and hearty tomato sauce then
broiled with chunks of feta cheese
stewed calamari calamari stewed in a red wine sauce w/ onion 15
and tomato, served over white rice w/ orzo
the above are served w/ your choice of side dish
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