The thumping, olive oil lubricated heart of the Byzantine-Latino quarter of Los Angeles is Papa Cristos. Part restaurant, part import grocery, part wacky tourist trap, this is the place to go for an authentic Greek experience. That is to say, it’s authentic because all over Greece there are places like this that cater to the foreigner’s expectations of what Greece is like. In truth, you have to push past stores like this and enter the smaller towns and neighborhoods to find genuine Greek life, but it’s the garish front line stores that bring in the tourists and their Euros that make up the bulk of the Greek economy. Papa Cristos is very good food, albeit fairly predictable and muted in flavor and style. They were a stellar way to cater our housewarming party, with hummus, tzatziki, dolmades, and gryos. I was thrilled to have 7 lbs of leftover gyro to snack on for a week. The grocery stocks the best Greek honey, wonderful olive oils, and a variety of traditional Greek booze from retsina to ouzo to Metaxa. We’ve also done their “My Big Fat Greek Family Style Dinner”, which is wacky fun for an evening if you don’t mind getting friendly with the strangers sitting next to you at a long table and potentially being forced into public belly dancing. For some reason when we’re at a restaurant that has some sort of belly dancing entertainment, the woman always finds me. Somehow she knows my attitude towards public displays of dancing are like my attitude towards tattoos – go big or don’t bother. However, shaking my moneymaker while full on gyros is not my idea of fun.
(323) 737-2970, 2771 W. Pico Blvd, Los Angeles