Tino’s Greek Cafe
13450 Research #237, 336-5999
Monday-Saturday, 11am-9pm; Sunday, 11am-8pm
Tino’s, in the shopping center on the southeast corner of Anderson Mill and Research, fills the Middle Eastern/Mediterranean/Greek gap for those nestled out in the hinterlands of 183. It’s owned by Mohammed Kosari of Alborz fame and Jeff Nori of Zorba’s, and it sits in a sunny corner space, with lots of glass windows and a half dozen tables out on the sidewalk. Inside it seats around 60 folks in a bright, airy room with a blue motif, and you dine to Greek music and smooth jazz. You order at the cafeteria-styled counter from what first seems like a limited menu. The concept is genius, and there’s actually more there than meets the eye.
For the lunch menu you can choose between a wrap of gyro or chicken meat ($4.99), a Greek Salad ($5.25, with chicken $6.99), or the Make Your Own Plate ($6.99). The Make Your Own Plate is where the genius part comes in (and what most seem to order): You get your choice of gyro meat, chicken schwarma meat, or a Greek salad (for the vegetarians); choice of either of two soups; pita bread; and three choices from a long list of sides. It’s a lot of food for a very reasonable amount of money, and you get to try many tastes in meze-sized portions. It also gets you to the table quickly with a tray brimming with food.
The two soup choices are lentil (vegetarian, if we had to guess) and a nice rich and lemony chicken with rice-like orzo pasta. The gyro meat is cut from the typical rotating log of mystery meat (typically a blend of beef and lamb), while the chicken is cut from a spit packed vertically with marinated chicken breasts. Both are excellent: nicely spiced and moist. The sides offer many choices. Tabouli is a light version, and not oily like some tend to be. The hummus is nutty, with a nice sesame-garlic-lemon finish. Keftethes is a large rice-and-ground-meat ball of medium density swimming in a spry tomato sauce. Spanakopita is a flaky triangular pastry stuffed with spinach, herbs, and feta.
Vegetable mousaka is a mélange of eggplant, tomato, onion, garlic, and red and green bell peppers with Greek herbs. Their version of baba ghanoush is roasted-eggplant-centric and spicy, with a hint of tahini on the finish. Other side choices include: dolmathes (grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs only, or with the addition of meat); tzatziki sauce of cucumber, yogurt, garlic, and herbs; steamed seasonal vegetables; rice pilaf; mashed potatoes (not skordalia style, with garlic and olive oil, but done the USA way); falafel; pastizzio (Greek macaroni and cheese – dinner only); beef mousaka (dinner only); and, last but not least, beef stew. Many of these are also available as appetizers or as components of a meze plate ($2.50 to $6). If you can’t find something among that list that appeals, you have screws loose.
At night the portions get a tad larger, prices scooch up a bit (add a buck or two to the mains), and the lamb and chicken ($11.95) kebabs make their appearance. We tried the lamb kebab ($14.95), which comes with rice pilaf, yogurt sauce, a small salad, pita, and hummus. The meat was juicy, moist, and tender, a large skewer-full. To the side was another grilled skewer of pairs of chunks of onion, bell pepper, tomato, and mushroom. It was enough to completely stuff a large appetite. The Baklava ($2.50) manages to avoid the density problems usually associated with that honey-drenched dessert.
Austin, especially Northwest Austin, comes out a winner with the opening of Tino’s: quick and authentic Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, in good-sized portions, at great prices, in comfortable surroundings.
This article appears in September 9 • 2005.
