Papadakis Taverna

Opa! *glass crashing!*

Took a drive down to San Pedro the other week to have dinner with the girls at Papadakis Taverna, a lively and festive Greek restaurant nestled in downtown San Pedro. I went there to, of course, see good friends and catch up on times but also to have LAMB...yum-e. I've been in a rack of lamb phase for the past few months and it wasn't dying down. So I was excited to get to have lamb again, but this time I was going to try something different. Instead of the rack, I was thinking about trying the filet, or "filetto" as the girls liked to call it. Excited and hungry - we opened our menus and to the girls astonishment...no filetto! There was a rukus, but soon one of the girls called the waiter over and asked about the missing filetto and he said, "ofcourse, we can do filetto if you like. It's just what we have on the menu without the bone." Elated again, the girls all ordered filetto, with two exceptions. One ordered the steak (which turned out to be huge!) and I ordered the lamb WITH the bone. From my Dad's teaching, any meat with the bone on will tend to be juicier and if you order medium rare, you're more likely to get medium rare with the bone in than with the bone out. But I digress...

There's nothing that catches your attention like fire...yes, I said "fire"...but I mean this in a good way. Our tastebuds were greeted first by Flaming Cheese! And we mean FLAME...that thing must've flamed up a few feet! makes the whole restaurant go "whoah!" everytime. :) Mmm, it was very good. But I think things always taste better when presented to you flambed. AND...this was on the house! Mmmm, a very nice way to start the evening!


On our tables were plates of Toasted Bread served up with yogurt sauce. Oh, this hit the spot too! The sauce was so refreshing! And that bread just looked so fantastic with those grill marks and the yellowish tinge of butter/olive oil.


Next was my favorite! I love Avgolemono Soup...LOVE it! (Greek Egg-lemon soup) And I was looking forward to this almost as much as the lamb since I can't always get this soup everywhere I can get lamb...so this was nice.


We were then served up a very nice house salad...just look at all that cheese!


Here's the famed filetto we'd been talking about. Some of the girls had not eaten here in many years and filetto had become in their heads something of a fantasy:


Then came the lamb - here's mine with the bone (not as appetizing a picture as the filetto, but believe me, it was good!):

It was really good lamb - though, I think I'm still a rack of lamb kinda girl...but that's just a matter of choice. And the entertainment is surely entertaining. The owner and the wait staff get together and do some traditional greek dancing and boy do they entertain! They of course targeted our table since it was filled with 7 women...my girlfriend was an easy target. I'd tell you the story, but then she'd kill me from embarrassment. They also had belly dancing and the woman entertainer was really good! She's also a jazz singer come to find out. This place was just full of talent. All in all it was fun and worth the visit...if not just for the very polite and friendly/fun atmostphere.


Nothing like Baklava at a Greek restaurant! Served alongside Walnut cake and raspberries:


We also had some raspeberries alongside some plain old vanilla ice cream:


Now this impressed me...free apertifs for everyone! I LOVED this because I just love dessert wine - well one that isn't too syrupy and this was juuuuust right. :) Such a nice way to end the evening - on something that was compliments of the house.


As for the evening, I had a great time! Lots of laughs and entertainment. The entertainment isn't something you normally get with your dinner. Neither is complimentary flaming cheese or apertifs. My one disappointment...not getting to see Mr. Papadakis break any glasses which I heard he often does. But come to find out, it might have been our fault since during on of the dances, Mr. Papadakis (it has been told) sometimes picks up a glass from a guests' table and then flings his head back and throws the glass behind him onto the floor...but apparently, my girlfriend picked up her glass right before he was going to do it so Mr. P just continued on. haha, oh well - but I did actually hear some glass crashing...but it was an inadvertent one from the kitchen. These people know how to have fun and they know how to serve their food AND they know how to entertain. Sorry to hear that they may be selling off their business soon. Hopefully we get to eat there again before that ever happens. I don't think anyone can dance quite like the owner Mr. Papadakis can...

Papadakis Taverna
301 West 6th Street
San Pedro, California 90731-3317
(310) 548-1186

p.s. For you USC fans, the Papadakis family are BIG USC supporters...and here's why. Go Trojans!