YULIE'S BRINGS A WINNING GRECIAN FORMULA TO GLENDALE.Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic NO FOOLIN' - Yulie's Taverna ta·ver·na n. A café or small restaurant in Greece. [Modern Greek taverna, from Medieval Greek tabern actually opened on April 1 this year on Glendale's main drag, Brand Boulevard, sporting the catchy subtitle ``The Art of Greek Cuisine.'' All blue and white with a large mural dominating the interior and staffers skittering about while Zorba-type music chants in the background, Yulie's has a nifty boulevard patio out front providing a neat place to laze laze v. lazed, laz·ing, laz·es v.intr. To be lazy; loaf: laze around the house. v.tr. away an afternoon sipping Greek wine and nibbling nibbling Nutrition The consumption of multiple–up to 17–'mini-meals' per day, as opposed to the usual 3 meals/day. Cf Bingeing, Gorging. traditional appetizers a la Greque. One of the highly recommended starter plates here is the generous heaping of fresh, deep-fried smelts ($7.99) served with a tart, creamy, dill dipping sauce. I also like the lemony baby octopus ($7.99). Both the lentil soup and the house Greek salad, either of which is included with most entree orders, are above-average renditions. Other appetizers that elicit descriptions like adequate or passable are the usually sprightly spright·ly adj. spright·li·er, spright·li·est Full of spirit and vitality; lively; brisk. adv. In a lively, animated manner. spright carp roe dip called taramasalata ta·ra·ma·sa·la·ta or ta·ra·mo·sa·la·ta n. A paste of fish roe, olive oil, lemon juice, and potatoes or moistened bread crumbs. [Modern Greek : taramas, preserved roe (from Turkish ($4.95), the spanakopita spa·na·ko·pi·ta n. A Greek spinach pie made with layers of phyllo and a filling of seasoned spinach, onions and scallions, feta, and sometimes eggs. spinach pie ($5.99), loukanika sausage ($5.99) tsadziki yogurt mixture ($4.95) and the house avgolemono soup ($4.99), which seemed rather bland one time. On the plus side, the entree portioning is large enough to keep large appetites satisfied, particularly in dishes like pastitsio, a sort of Greek lasagna ($10.99) that comes forth as a chunk big enough to envelop en·vel·op tr.v. en·vel·oped, en·vel·op·ing, en·vel·ops 1. To enclose or encase completely with or as if with a covering: "Accompanying the darkness, a stillness envelops the city" Athens. Chef-owner Yulie's lamb chops ($24.99), the menu's most expensive item, arrive pink inside and relatively moist, seasoned provocatively, accompanied by vinegared potatoes, rice and vegetables. This may well be the restaurant's best entree, although the potatoes, listed as lemon-roasted, overwhelmed the accompanying red wine. Also worth trying, the whole, flown-in-daily-from-Greece seabass ($19.99) provides a typical Greek fish platter, somewhat homey, nicely executed, plated with rice and cold, seasoned dandelion dandelion [Eng. form of Fr.,=lion's tooth], any plant of the genus Taraxacum of the family Asteraceae (aster family), perennial herbs of wide distribution in temperate regions. greens (horta). Stifado ($12.99), an aromatic meat and onion stew perched on a mound of rice and listed as a veal dish, but only available with lamb one evening, should be noted as an appropriate cold-weather appeaser. As for finale time, a fine, sweet and sinful ending titled kandaifi ($4.50), a Greek-style shredded filo FILO - stack dough, custard and cream sensation promoted as Yulie's special dessert, is substantial enough to share. No foolin'. Larry Lipson, (818) 713-3668 larry.lipson(at)dailynews.com YULIE'S TAVERNA Food: Two and one half stars - Service: Three stars - Wine: Two stars Where: 208 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Hours: Open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily and for dinner from 4 to 11 p.m. nightly. Recommended items:! Marithes (smelts), lentil soup, Greek salad, octopus, lamb chops, seabass, pastitsio, kandaifi. How much: Starters from $5 to $8, entrees from $11 to $25, desserts from $3.25 to $4.50. Beer and wine. AE, MC, V, Discover. Wine list: Small selection with house generics by the glass ($3.99), six other glasses ($5.99 to $7.99) and 11 bottles ($25 to $42) with five Greek labels that include one retsina ret·si·na n. A Greek white or rosé wine flavored with pine resin. [Modern Greek, probably from Italian resina, resin, from Latin r ($13.99) and a dry red Mercouri '98 ($42). Corkage: $3.50 per person. Reservations: Helpful. Call (818) 240-4570. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Yulie Theodosiadis, owner of Yulie's Taverna in Glendale, displays dishes with sons Nikolas, left, and Theodore. Matthew Simmons/Special to the Daily News |
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