Sunday, April 22, 2007

A grand old Greek tradition endures

Before there was the term “comfort food,” there was Webster House. On the menu at $9.95: chicken pie, chopped beefsteak, honey-dipped fried chicken and a boneless chicken breast, grilled or fried. Our dining room, one of several, was neat as a pin, with fresh flowers on each table.

We’ve learned to count on Mediterranean cooking here, but various other cuisines roll through on a monthly rotation. Polish specialties are a major component of the “specials” menu. Greek appetizers get their own section — a half dozen specialties like stuffed grape leaves, spinach pita and fried calamari. A generous sampler platter is $12.95. Standard-issue appetizers, mushroom caps, chicken fingers and fried mozzarella await on their own separate appetizer list.

Egg lemon soup was The Soup Goddess’ first choice; the Webster House makes it with rice now, rather than orzo. A cup is $1.95, a bowl $1 more. Chicken, rice, lemon and carrots don’t tell the story; the creamy base with egg and lemon is traditional, delicious, rich and addictive.

My dolma — stuffed grape leaves with rice — were meatless, but well-seasoned, which is a plus. The soft, sweet leaves were well filled with seasoned rice and carried plenty of flavor. Juicy grapevine tomato halves and a juicy lemon wedge were an odd addition, too. Just fine at $4.95 for an order of five.

The house salad, included with most meals, is a good mix of greens with grapevine tomatoes, cucumber and shredded carrot, served with a bright, clear, first-class house herbal dressing. It’s the way to go.

Nine chicken entrées with a top price of $11.95 have their own corner of the menu. The meat department features steaks, three veal choices, chopped beef and prime rib on weekends. Seafood includes schrod, sea scallops, whole clams, salmon, haddock and shrimp. Lobsters are available on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at market price. (Look out! We were quoted $45 in a different restaurant last weekend.) A page of Greek specialties begins with chicken kebab for $11.95 and ranges to $16.95 for a herb-encrusted sirlion steak.

She spoke up first, so The Soup Goddess got to choose moussaka for dinner. It’s a favorite with us both. There are plenty of choices, though. I moved quickly to herb-crusted fresh salmon served over egg-lemon sauce, adding Greek-style green beans with onions and tomato. Swapping butternut squash for the rice accompaniment made it perfect for $12.95.

Even The Soup Goddess, who doesn’t like salmon, thought it was delicious. “Herb-crusted” rarely means what it says, but you can believe it at the Webster House. Within the tasty crust was an excellent salmon filet upon egg-lemon sauce. The fish tasted fresh and the combination of flavors was simply flawless.

The $12.50 moussaka did not get similar raves. The “traditional baked eggplant and chopped beef topped with creamy bechamel sauce” really didn’t work. We both prefer ground lamb or a beef and lamb mixture; that’s OK — we were forewarned. The bechamel sauce, however, was anything but creamy and unlike any I’ve tasted. It was like a crumbled slice of toast on top of the dish — dotted with crumbs or grated cheese; far from being a sauce. We had no complaint with the mixture of eggplant and meat, but there was where any similarity to moussaka stopped.

Desserts are homemade and varied. Homemade desserts really mean “comfort food.”

We narrowed our choices to carrot cake and baklava cheesecake, each $4.50. The carrot cake is as good as it gets ... moist, but not heavy. It’s quite light for carrot cake, and full of flavor, with superb cream cheese frosting. A great choice. Baklava cheesecake? I’ve never found it anywhere else. Good traditional cheesecake, topped with upside-down baklava. The top of the cheesecake is a layer of honeyed phyllo; under that, walnuts and more honey. It’s dynamite. Enjoy. Each dessert, $4.50.

We can’t quite understand the moussaka, but nearly everything else was extraordinary. Our check was $39, plus beverages, tax and gratuity. A good value and great with one exception.

Go try the salmon ... and the salad … and the cheesecake.