Greek Food – Great Vegetarian Alternative

I recently went to Houston for a business trip.  I asked my sister and brother-in-law for a few restaurant recommendations in Houston, because they lived nearby for about 5 years.  One of their recos was for a Greek restaurant called Niko Nikos…

Niko Nikos is a very casual restaurant in the Montrose area of Houston.  Nice, quaint area filled with lots of restaurants.  It’s definitely not the place to take any business associates, but if you’re looking for good food without the fuss, this is your place.  You order and pay in advance at a counter, they give you one of those buzzer things that buzz when your order is ready.  You get up from your table, go pick it up at another counter and then you eat it… you take your beverage from the soda machine or a cooler they have to the side…  plastic cutlery and disposable plates.  Nothing fancy here.

I ordered a falafel sandwich on pita bread and an eggplant dip called melizano salata.  Both choices were pretty good.  I liked the melizano salata better than the falafel… they were too “green” for my taste.  So I took the pita, lettuce and tomatoes and placed my eggplant dip inside the pita bread and had a melizano pita sandwich instead. 

But this brought to mind how appropriate the Greek menu is for a vegetarian diner… they have a lot of great choices and at Niko Nikos they even highlight them on the menu:

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  • Greek Salad – lettuce, tomatoes, onions, olives, feta cheese, vinaigrette
  • Tzatziki – Yogurt, sour cream, garlic & cucumber dip
  • Melizano Salata – Eggplant dip with tomato and onion
  • Hummus w/ Pita – Chickpea, garlic, fresh parsley dip
  • Falafel – Fried chickpea patties served in pita with lettuce, tomato, onion.  Tahini & tzatziki  on the side.
  • Veggie Kebob – Zucchini, squash, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes & tzatziki sauce.  Served with pita.
  • Spinach & Feta Pita – Sautéed spinach with dill, tomato, onion & feta on pita.
  • Spanakopita – Spinach pie in phyllo.
  • Cabbage Rolls – filled with rice
  • Dolmades– Grape leaves filled with rice.
  • Baklava – Flaky fillo filled with ground walnuts & cinnamon, topped with homemade honey sauce.

I hope you have a Greek restaurant nearby and try and tell me all about your favorite Greek favorites.  We have a really nice Greek restaurant in San Juan called Fleria.  I usually order the stuffed vegetables or some stewed potatoes dish that is just heavenly.

I hope to be able to visit Greece soon and be able to taste all these delicacies first hand…  how about that!!! Opa!!!