The cozy, attractive dining room at seven-month-old Magissa on a mid-December evening. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
Some cafes have tip jars; some families have swear jars. I think Magissa needs a joke jar. Not for just any old groaner, but for the wisecrack I heard repeated from two opposite ends of the newly renovated Anderson St. space during my recent visit.
The first: from a jolly older man who bore a striking resemblance to Santa. Seated at the rear of the taverna-style Greek restaurant, in one of the inviting "stucco snug" booths, he struggled to pronounce the name of the red wine he wanted to order. So instead, he pointed at the entry for the Nebbiolo-like Kir Yianni Naoussa Xinomavro ($14) and bellowed, "It's all Greek to me!"
Magissa's mezze with tzatziki, top left, briami, horiatiki and olives, skordalia, halloumi, and labneh. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
Then about 20 minutes later, when a couple seated two tables down from mine copied nearly item for item the tasting plate of mezze my guests and I had ordered ($14 for three mezze/$20 for five/$32 for all nine). Some were easy to order, like batons of wonderfully squeaky, grill-seared halloumi from Crete; or familiar creamy tzatziki that chef/co-owner Nancy Klosperidis prepares with full-fat Greek yogurt, cucumbers and dill.
Then the wheels came off. "Skor...skorio?" one proposed, before being kindly corrected by our extraordinarily patient server: "Skordalia," which at Magissa is made simply, according to Klosperidis' family recipe. Soaked stale bread, cooled (and super-starchy) boiled potatoes, garlic and lemon get whipped into a mousse-like dip ideal for pinching between wedges of imported Greek pita.
Our server supplied "Briami" for the olive-oil-slicked grilled onions, peppers and asparagus mezze -- I hope they got some asparagus in theirs; we did not. And then, as if on cue with their last selection, they were snared by the admittedly tongue-tying "Htipiti," a fiery red-pepper and feta spread that derives its bite from nothing but garlic. Out came the joke. Yes, it's all Greek...cue the rimshot and shove a dollar in the joke jar.
I empathize with the servers and bar staff most of all. Imagine having to smile politely and nod as you hear some version of this corniness dozens of times a night, and probably again during Magissa's recently launched lunch service. They'll get another dose when the 45-seater starts brunch service in the new year. I'd wish them luck, but they don't seem to need it. Somehow, service at the seven-month-old Magissa remains unfailingly warm.
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Amiable staff also help the former proprietors of the Greeks of Peaks food truck, co-owners Klosperidis and her business partner, co-owner/pastry chef Emily Otero, create a soft-edged familiarity in the space. No easy feat in a building bordered by a wall of garage doors. To build a little hygge into the dining room, Otero and Klosperidis stepped back from a stereotypical stark white and azure color scheme. Instead, they clad their bar in reclaimed pine sourced from Portland's Architectural Salvage and installed an eclipse-like wall sconce that calls to mind Olafur Eliasson's sunny (literally) Weather Project installation.
When it came time to select Magissa's seating, the duo looked not to Wayfair, but Lisbon Falls. "A lot of things we did were because of our ties to the Maine community," Klosperidis said. "We found all these really comfortable, solidly made wooden chairs from the 1800s up at a Masonic Temple in Lisbon Falls, and for a donation, we got all of them." It's hard not to root for up-cyclers.
Look at Magissa's menu with the right perspective, and you'll also see how Klosperidis has applied the ethos of reuse to her homey cooking. Most recipes are either taken directly from her family or borrowed loosely, adjusting only to accommodate scale, context and a thoughtful integration of Maine-sourced ingredients.
"I grew up cooking with my Yia Yia and Papou," she said. "Most of what we (she and co-head chef Dillon Houser) make is homecooked food that has been elevated a little for Portland and for serving in a restaurant. My family is from the island of Chios, so a lot of food and drinks play heavily on that. But we also try to hit some notes from every region in Greece and also put a Maine spin on things."
Magissa's Mastic Kiss cocktail. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
One example of a Chios-inspired menu item is the Mastic Kiss ($14), an impossibly complicated, yet finely equilibrated cocktail made with Pimm's, ginger beer, mint, honey syrup, lemon, two kinds of Maine gin and mastic liqueur. If you're not familiar with mastic, it's a gum-like resin that weeps from cuts in an evergreen tree native to Chios. I've experimented with mastic as an ingredient in salad dressings and desserts -- never to much success. That aromatic, cedar-like flavor of mastic is difficult to rein in. But Klosperidis and bar-lead Taylor Morton do a terrific job balancing mastic's piney aromas with tart citrus.
Elsewhere on the menu, balance can be unpredictable. Take the generously portioned dessert, loukoumades ($10), which are yeasted, beignet-esque dough puffs deep-fried and double-topped with a drizzle of imported Greek honey and a thorough dusting of powdered sugar. While the fritters' texture was crisp outside, webby and airy inside, just as it should have been, the interior was bland. "Huh, they're missing something," the pastry expert I invited for dinner mused. Whether that's more sugar, more salt, or (as heretical as it may sound) buttermilk to offset the dessert's cavity-inducing sweetness, I can't be certain. But the dessert did need a little kick in the pants.
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Magissa's tahini Caesar salad. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
The tahini Caesar ($13) also seemed to be one element shy of excellence. I think that element is salt. Now, I understand when you see white, oil-and-vinegar-marinated anchovies interspersed among torn leaves of romaine lettuce, as well as a showering of delicate, microplaned parmesan shavings, you might think those two ingredients would provide enough of a savory backdrop. And if not those components, certainly the garlicky Caesar dressing that Magissa whisks together with crushed sesame paste. But the combination of sweet nuttiness from tahini and the choice to use uncured (i.e. not salty) anchovies robs the salad of its traditional savoriness.
Magissa's kalamari with marinara. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
When Klosperidis and Houser get the balance right, look out. You can see glimpses of their flourishing partnership in dishes like the kalamari appetizer ($14) -- a stunningly simple plate of barely battered, deep-fried squid that is both delicate in texture and seasoned well with salt and a mysterious murmur of spice. I couldn't put my finger on it until Klosperidis confessed the secret: "My Papou loved kalamari. Every time we went to his house, it was the first dish we'd eat that day," she told me. "He also loved to fish and caught a lot of (squid) here, in Maine. His family was living in Baltimore when he came over from Greece, and he liked to put Old Bay in the kalamari batter. So that's what I do. I keep it close to the family recipe." A fantastic, if unorthodox dish.
Loukaniko (sausage) ragu ($24) will bring me back, though. Here, an appealing, loose polenta studded with nuggets of feta from Crete is ladled into a shallow bowl, then capped with a ragu that's so chockablock with uncased lamb-and-pork sausage, it could pass as a bolognese. Every spoonful starts at the bottom, with the cheesy, starchy base. Then it ascends through the sauce, crisscrossed by aromas of orange zest, red wine and licoricey toasted fennel, all wafting from chunks of Magissa's house-made version of the sausage that gives the dish its name. It's OK if you can't pronounce it. Just stick another dollar in the joke jar and grab a spoon.
Magissa's Loukaniko Ragu, with lamb, pork and polenta and kefalotyri cheese. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald
RATING: ***1/2
WHERE: 91 Anderson St., Portland, 207-956-2902, magissaportland.com
SERVING: 4-8 p.m. Monday, 5-9 p.m. Thursday, noon-9 p.m. Friday & Saturday, noon-8 p.m. Sunday
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PRICE RANGE: Small plates and mezze: $5-$14, Large plates: $20-$24
NOISE LEVEL: A sober Dionysus
VEGETARIAN: Some dishes
RESERVATIONS: Yes
BAR: Beer, wine and cocktails
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes
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BOTTOM LINE: For many years now, Portland has needed a Greek restaurant, and Greeks on Peaks food-truck co-owners Emily Otero and Nancy Klosperidis knew it. The pair opened Magissa -- a play on words that means both "witch" and "person called to cooking" -- in a cozy, smartly renovated space at the foot of Munjoy Hill this May. Since then, they, along with co-head chef Dillon Houser (East Ender), have been preparing Greek (and slightly Greek-adjacent) dishes that are inspired by or taken from Klosperidis' family recipes. With the exception of a few seasoning hiccups, dishes at Magissa are enjoyable. Don't skip the ultra-garlicky htipiti mezze spread and the oddball, yet sublime fried kalamari, seasoned with just a few specks of Old Bay. If it's cold outside (or you're just really hungry), you can't go wrong with a bowl of feta-fortified polenta topped with a ragu made with Magissa's magical loukaniko, a lamb-and-pork sausage spiced with orange zest and toasted fennel seeds.
Ratings follow this scale and take into consideration food, atmosphere, service, value and type of restaurant (a casual bistro will be judged as a casual bistro, an expensive upscale restaurant as such):
* Poor
** Fair
*** Good
**** Excellent
***** Extraordinary
The Maine Sunday Telegram visits each restaurant once; if the first meal was unsatisfactory, the reviewer returns for a second. The reviewer makes every attempt to dine anonymously and never accepts free food or drink.
Andrew Ross has written about food and dining in New York and the United Kingdom. He and his work have been featured on Martha Stewart Living Radio and in The New York Times. He is the recipient of eight recent Critic's Awards from the Maine Press Association.
Contact him at: andrewross.maine@gmail.com
Twitter: @AndrewRossME
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