It’s been over a decade since my last visit, but Ikaros hasn’t changed.
Not really, anyway. The restaurant has moved into a bigger, more conventional space down the block (I do miss the quirkier original location), and the waiters – still Greek and charming – look a little younger to my now-older eyes.
Otherwise, it’s just as I remember. The menu has all the classics – eggplant salad, spinach pie, moussaka, pastitsio – and the portions remain enormous.
My sister and I chose our old favorites – cheese pies to start, then moussaka for me and crab cakes for her. We also ordered the gigantes, oven-baked lima beans, and a couple of glasses of Greek wine.
I read over the menu, with the familiar story of Dedalos and Ikaros (Greek spellings, of course, not Latin!) while we waited.
Cheese pies first. The phyllo dough is wrapped around a filling of feta cheese and herbs that’s light and almost soufflé-like, not at all greasy. We agreed that we could have easily polished off the whole plate of these (and maybe a second one, too) if we didn’t want to save our appetites.
The gigantes, which we’d never tried before, were a wonderful surprise – a big, shallow dish of giant beans stewed with tomatoes, carrots, and onions, just right for a chilly evening.
Crab cakes aren’t a traditional Greek dish, of course, but this is Baltimore. No menu is complete without them.
And the Ikaros version is fantastic – two softball-sized cakes that are so airy and tender, I wonder what’s holding them together. With a squeeze of lemon over their perfectly broiled tops, these rival any other crab cakes I’ve had.
Alongside, there’s a choice of two vegetables. My sister knows exactly what to get – the green beans cooked with tomatoes, and the tender, savory roasted potatoes that taste of lemon and olive oil and oregano.
Ikaros’ moussaka is homey and rich all at once, with layers of potato, eggplant, beef, creamy bechamel, and tomato sauce. It covered the entire plate and defeated me in just a few minutes (in my defense, I had already eaten all those cheese pies, gigantes, and some of my sister’s crab cake).
Fortunately, moussaka makes excellent leftovers.
There’s always room for dessert, especially my favorite custard pie (galaktoboureko!). We easily polished it off, along with a couple bites of baklava.
Even if it takes another decade, I’ll be back – probably ordering the same things and taking home my usual copious leftovers. I’m looking forward to it already.
Never change, Ikaros!
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Yum! Wish some of those leftovers made it back to NC with me!