Don’t expect belly dancers to shimmy atop your dinner table at this Greek café, a longtime bearer of Mediterranean comfort food without the frills. Souvenirs of Greece adorn the blue-and-white papered walls, and attentive waitstaff make sure your bread baskets are well-stocked with garlicky hummus. The classics sing here: There’s the tender lamb shank cooked in red wine and plated with orzo; the avgolemono soup (a chicken and egg-lemon drop concoction) known to diners as “Greek penicillin”; and the pastitsio, a lasagnalike square of ground beef and béchamel sauce.
Greek Islands Taverna, 3300 N. Ocean Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 954-565-5505; greekislandstaverna.com
FINALISTS:
Ethos 4437 Lyons Road, Unit E104, Coconut Creek; 754-999-0050; ethosbistro.com
My Big Fat Greek Restaurant, 3445 Griffin Road, Fort Lauderdale; 954-961-5030; mbfgr.com
