Profile

The architect of the menu at Anthos is Michael Psilakis, a talented, kinetic chef who is fast becoming the poster boy of Greek revival, the Mario Batali of “New Aegean” cuisine. Psilakis opened his first haute-Greek establishment, Onera, a few years ago, on the Upper West Side. Then came Dona, an elegant, three-star, “Pan-Mediterranean” operation run with his partner, the restaurateur Donatella Arpaia. Psilakis and Arpaia have since replaced Onera with a more classically Greek restaurant called Kefi, and Dona closed after the lease was bought out to make room for a hotel. Anthos, which occupies a boxy, innocuous space among the towers of midtown (there’s a standard bar up front, a large mirror in the back, and white walls decorated with paintings of random, un-Greek cherry blossoms), feels like a curious jumble of these previous restaurants. It’s more upscale than Kefi but less elaborately produced than Dona, with a shorter menu and a more straightforward culinary focus. The culinary focus at Anthos is Greece, of course, though whether Psilakis’s grandmother (he grew up in a Greek-American family on Long Island) would recognize anything on her plate is doubtful. Psilakis is a self-taught cook, unencumbered by traditions and orthodoxies. One of his signature dishes is crudi (mostly fish, but occasionally meat), served with a profusion of esoteric ingredients, in the small-plate style of Greek meze. Here he offers sweet Taylor Bay scallops touched with peppermint and pistachio, slices of yellowtail dusted with fennel pollen, and nickel-size slivers of raw tuna dabbed with lemons and mastic oil, which, in case you didn’t know, is a kind of resin made from a tree that grows on the island of Chios. — Adam Platt

Prix-Fixe

$28 and $38 prix fixes are available at lunch, there’s a $38 pre-theater menu at dinner, and an $95 chef’s tasting menu that includes Psilakis coming out to talk.

Note
The Greek white wines are well-chosen, particularly those from Santoríni.

Related Stories

New York Magazine Reviews

• Gael Greene's Full Review (4/2/07)
• Adam Platt's Full Review (4/30/07)

Best of New York Awards

• Best Octopus (2009)
• Best Un-Beef Burger (2008)
• Gael Greene's Pick for Best New Restaurant (2008)

Featured In

• Where to Eat 2008 (1/7/08)
• Where to Eat 2008: Best New Restaurants of the Year (1/7/08)
• Where to Eat 2008: The Best Restaurants for Each Occasion (1/7/08)
• Adam Platt's Picks for the Best Cheap Expensive Food in Town (7/30/07)

Recipes at Anthos

• Warm Dandelion Greens With Fingerling Potatoes and Cherry Peppers (2007)