And finally food blogger Wendy Abdulmesih is ready to share her pick for Greek cuisine
that's worth celebrating.
This upbeat dining experience offers authentic dishes with a side of belly dancing.
Hand grind the hummus, take in the view, transport yourself to Greece, and dance the night away.
It's a happening you won't wanna miss.
It's in Hollywood and it's called Taverna Opa.
Taverna Opa is a Greek restaurant.
This is the original location.
This is where everything started.
We will invite you to join our
celebration.
It really focuses on great cuisine.
It's all about simplicity, freshness, and seasonality.
As being part of the
Mediterranean diet, we really want to focus on having good ingredients.
It's all about olive oil, lemon, and herbs.
We really, really
do the rustic lamb dish, all the dips, which are very typical in the Greek cuisine, the
whole fish that we do serve grilled.
We
highly recommend our customers to dine family style and really interact with each other.
We really think we can showcase our
customers what really Greece is and part of that is not only our hospitality and our menus,
but the way the restaurant looks.
That
island feeling.
We still really dancing on the tables, it's part of the Greek tradition.
Taverna Opa is a celebration of good food
and good wine, and we really look forward to seeing you.
So you love this, right?
It's fabulous, it's fresh.
I love it.
I haven't been in Greece, unfortunately, but it looks so much like Greece, at least the
pictures that I've seen.
And it's
so beautiful, it's so white with even the floors are like the tavernas that you see
in the pictures.
And the best part of it is the
location because you have the view right there, it's just gorgeous.
So what did you have this last time you went?
I went with my daughter and we had the dip platter.
It had eggplant dip, which was on point with all the seasoning.
Was it baba ganoush?
Yes.
Then in the same dip platter they had a tzatziki, which is the yogurt.
They also had the taramosalata.
The taramosalata is the
egg fish dip, and this was sensational.
But we started the night, the first thing that they bring you is the hummus.
They bring you
in a wooden plate, chickpeas, you need to smash it, it's fun.
So it's a make your own hummus?
Kind of, yes.
You smash it and you eat it right there because it's really soft, so it's easy to do.
All of you had the hummus, correct?
[All] Yes
It's complimentary, it was a wonderful story to the meal, just to have, I've never had
fresh hummus, that fresh.
The hummus was a really interesting, very nice surprise.
I walked in, there was a lady belly dancing, I'm like, this is very nice,
this could be a lot of fun.
We had Spanakopita, which was really flaky, really delicious.
It's a spinach pie, for those who don't know.
It's fantastic.
Perfect for sharing.
I ordered the grilled octopus.
It was really delicious.
Did it have a sauce or vinegarette on it?
No, it was just straight grilled octopus.
You had grilled calamari, too, right?
Grilled calamari.
I walked in knowing that I was craving grilled calamari, and I was like, well they're a Greek
place, and if
they're a real Greek place they're gonna have this.
They're gonna respect seafood, they're gonna do it grilled, and they did it far
better than I expected them to.
It was really delicious.
I will go back there just to have that grilled calamari dish.
The way that
they crisp it on the outside with just a light char was delicious.
I like the tomato with it and the lemon.
And everything I had
tried there was delicious.
Did you try any lamb?
No, I didn't try the lamb.
Did you have lamb?
Holy bananas in pajamas.
Let's talk about the roasted lamb.
Let's do that.
It's like a thyme lemon gravy sort of situation with the, I'm assuming, seasonal vegetables
and a roasted potato.
Let's just sit
back and think about that for a second.
I recommend everyone getting that because it was buttery flakey, fell apart on your.
I was
like, oh, this is gonna be really good.
We're gonna have some of this and we'll take it home, and then I ate the whole thing.
But it
was delicious.
It was fantastic.
It really did bring that Greek flavor.
The Spanakopita, I'm very picky about it, was very good there.
You had something else though, as well.
The eggplant with tomato.
I loved that it wasn't like a traditional baba ganoush.
It was large pieces of eggplant grilled nicely in
a hot skillet with tomato and garlic and pine nuts, and I absolutely loved it.
The other thing I will say about my experience there,
it became a romantic night for me and my boyfriend.
We did not know we were walking into that.
You know you see the water, it was
beautiful.
We actually were there when it was pretty empty.
The sun was setting.
We had this great meal together, and it really was
just a wonderful experience.
I think it's beautiful because it serves two, a romantic date night out, or in my case very
familiar, and very fun and familiar
family night out.
Yeah, it's a very, very lively place.
So how was the service?
I mean I felt the service was great.
It was a little relaxed, but I feel like if you're going to a place like that, are you
in
hurry, really?
Come on, relax, you're on the water.
It does sort of very much feel like you're in Greece.
Enjoy your experience.
Have
another glass of wine.
It's fine, man.
Well, Wendy, Taverna Opa was your choice.
Sum it up for us.
The Greece that I have never been to here with amazing food, wonderful vibe.
Tim.
I loved it.
The prices were great.
Food was awesome.
I would definitely recommend it.
Katherine.
Taverna Opa was way more than I expected.
It is real Greek with real Greek servers serving me, and food that really respects seafood
and what I think of Greek food in Miami.
For an eventful night out indulge at Taverna Opa, located at 410 North Ocean Drive in Hollywood,
with an additional location in
Delray.
Open Sundays for lunch and daily for dinner.
Reservations are accepted and the average price for dinner without drinks is
about $45.