Well hello there and Happy New Year!

I’m sure you were thinking you would never hear from me again!  In fact, I was wondering the same thing myself.  Life is busy, and my interests have moved in many new directions, which I think is a good thing as we age.  My cooking has also changed so much since the early days of The Kitchen Scout (twelve years ago!) when I had more mouths to feed at home.  I still cook quite a bit, almost nightly in fact but sometimes our meals are not “blog worthy” as my husband and I have come to call it.  I do have a few recipes up my sleeve that I hope to bring to you soon.

Today, I am sharing our recent visit to Bar Vlaha in Brookline, Massachusetts but before I get to that, I just wanted to share a little story.  It’s meant to be funny with a touch of aww shucks so please bear that in mind 🙂

So in my rounds of post-Christmas errands, I walked into the Gap to return a few items.  I have always loved the Gap, perhaps not quite as much now as I did when I was younger, or when I couldn’t resist anything at Gap Kids for my little girls.  Gap was cool and groovy – I can’t remember when it first opened in Massachusetts but it was probably in Harvard Square and everyone wanted to buy their jeans there.  Well guess what – I still do!  Not exclusively but many of their jeans and cords fit me well and so I have a fair number of pairs.  PS – I also love their sister brand, Athleta as I’m sure you do too.  I just got this jacket on sale in two colors and I recommend it!

As I waited in line to do my return at Gap, I turned my eyes upward above the cash wrap towards an enormous photograph of three gorgeous young people casually leaning into each other.  Oh so relaxed and chill they were without a care in the world with their glowing skin and bright eyes.  It got me thinking and since I had to wait a bit still, I turned around to look at all the other photos in that particular store – and there were a lot of them, let me tell you.  There wasn’t one photo that had a woman or a man over the age of 25.  It just struck me like I got hit over the head.  Who am I and why am I here?  And then I got annoyed and thought, damn you Gap – I’ve been a loyal customer for all these years and clearly you don’t value my demographic – older people, older women who still want to wear your jeans.  I felt so old.  At least give us one photographic representation?  Who’s running that place anyway!

Now, perhaps you have already noticed this but I’ve been “adding to cart” more than shopping in-store.  My eyes are wide open now, however, and I’m annoyed!  The next question is – what to do about it.  I don’t know.  Does anyone know anyone at Gap – I will write a letter on behalf of us all.  Ok enough with my rant – did I give you a chucle?

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The holidays were so cooperative this year, giving us not one but two long weekends!  This past Monday, my husband said he couldn’t remember the last time he was in the office and I agreed as I was looking forward to having the house to myself!  Anyway, right after the new year we went to see the Homer exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston.  The show was wonderful and thankfully not too crowded so we got to see many of the paintings up close without a shoulder or elbow nudging you along.  The exhbition showcases dozens of Homer’s watercolors that have not be shown together in nearly half a century, largely due to their sensitivity to light.  Ending on January 19th, it is well worth a visit if you can.

Because we were organized in our planning, I was finally able to get a reservation at Brookline’s Bar Vlaha for an early dinner.  Not a new restaurant, but as Ann Patchett might say (iykyk), if you haven’t been there it’s new to you!  New it was and we were so delighted to dine there on a most chilly evening…

We arrived a little early for our 5:30 reservation, largely because we purposely ate lightly during the day anticipating our feast and we were rather hungry.  The restaurant was packed with many of the dozen or so bar seats occupied or reserved, including our little spot…

The table in front of the kitchen appeared to a communal dining high top that seated maybe 10 diners.  I believe it is referred to as “Counter” on Open Table.

Bar Vlaha evokes Greek Taverna and has a big open kitchen.  It definitely felt transformative, not surprising because it is one of the ventures from the team behind Boston’s Krasi, Kaia and GRECO.  The culinary director is Brendan Pelley who once worked at both Doretta Taverna (Boston) and Zebra’s (Medfield), both of which appeared here on the blog but are also now sadly closed.

In any case, Bar Vlaha opened in 2022 and by all accounts is going strong.  The food is inspired by the Vlach people, a nomadic shepherd community from the mountains and lakes of central and northern Greece whose rustic cooking and hospitality helped shape early Hellenic cuisine.  From its inception, Bar Vlaha set itself apart from typical Greek island-style restaurants by focusing on hearty, inland Greek fare drawn directly from the Vlach people rather than seafood centric menus more commonly offered by Greek establishments.

Overall, we had an excellent experience and the bartender/server was extremely attentive and explained many of the dishes for us.  My husband also wanted to try the Greek red wines so he was very helpful with his selection as well.  Here’s how our meal played out.  We ordered quite a few dishes, but bear in mind most of them were vegetables (until the end)!!!

First up, we ordered one of the spreads along with their unbelievably delicious Horiatiko Psomi or village style sourdough bread.  I could have made a meal out of the bread alone, it was soooo good and is available to purchase by the loaf if you want it at home.  The spreads are $12 each or 3 for $24 but we really didn’t want to fill up on dips so we chose the Fava that was split pea served with capers and red onion.  Fabulous – loved every swipe.  In our book, capers make everything better and this was no exception.  Other dips include Tzatziki, a whipped feta with roasted red peppers, a charred eggplant and a Taramosalata…

From the Salata or Salad section, we chose the Pantzarosalta which included roasted beets, shaved root vegetables (watermelon radishes – my fave), kale, frisee, sunflower seeds, manouri (a Greek sheep’s milk cheese) and a regani (oregano) vinaigrette…

This is my plate so you can see it a little more clearly.  It was delicious and it was so nice to eat a healthy salad after all the heavy holiday food…

Our next dish was from the Gia to Trapezi section, meant for the table.  This section included crispy fried oyster mushrooms, pumpkin “meatballs” of sorts, and Loukaniko which is pan fried sausage served with mustard yogurt.  What we ordered, the Piperies was probably our least favorite dish of the evening, although it was still tasty.  Charcoal grilled hot peppers (not too hot) that were stuffed with whipped sheep’s milk cheese, honey and sesame.  The honey was key to this dish to offset the richness and we felt there was too much filling, although if we had shared it with a larger table that might have helped 🙂

We ordered one item from the Traditional Dishes section which was the Melitzana Yiahni – eggplant, potato, feta, garlic and onion in a tomato sauce.  Stick to your ribs kind of vegetarian food and it was delicious.  Mind you, the food was very well spaced out so we didn’t feel rushed at all and the spacing allowed us to take a breather between courses, although nothing so far, other than the peppers felt heavy!

We couldn’t leave without having one of the dishes prepared over their charcoal grill so of course, evoking My Big Fat Greek Wedding, or maybe the Armenian in me, we ordered the Paidakia or Lamb Chops grilled with olive oil, lemon and oregano.  I know lamb is polarizing but in this family, we love it and these were worth the trip alone.  After so many vegetables, we were happy to end it here…

Although!  We had been debating between that eggplant dish I showed earlier and a side dish of potatoes and somehow ended up ordering both (not on purpose!).  But we were happy to eat the classically prepared potatoes with our lamb chops so it all worked out.  Sprinkled with an extra squeeze of lemon juice they were just a tad crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside, just as they are meant to be…

How cute is this little lamb for our bill?

We did not order dessert, but there were several offerings including rice pudding, a baklava, and a ruffled milk pie.

What’s funny is that a twosome sat down as we were finishing up, and asked the bartender what his favorites were.  This is not something we did for some reason, and when he replied there wasn’t one dish that he suggested that we had ordered!  And the couple next to us ordered the pumpkin “meatballs” and the sausage, both of which looked amazing.  The point being that I don’t think you can honestly go wrong here.  I want to go back and try all the other items I didn’t try on the first go around.  Reservations are available one month in advance so plan ahead.  If you haven’t been, I hope you give them a try sometime soon.  Tell them The Kitchen Scout sent you and they will have no idea what you are talking about ha ha!!!

Until next time…

One Year Ago:  Almond Croissant Bars

Two Years Ago:  Celery and Potato Soup

Three Years Ago:  Moeca in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Four Years Ago:  Lemony Chicken Stew with Parsley and Dill (so good!)

Five Years Ago:  Shrimp Fried Cauliflower Rice

Six Years Ago:  Coconut Date Balls

Seven Years Ago:  Turkey Meatball Casserole

Eight Years Ago:  Roasted Broccoli and Parmesan Soup

Nine Years Ago:  Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with Pappardelle

Ten Years Ago:  Farro, Citrus and Arugula Salad

Eleven Years Ago:  Cheesy Baked Tortellini

Twelve Years Ago:  Chicken Parmesan Meatballs