Word: calamari
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Using some free air miles to fly from their home in Seattle to Corfu, and with the cost of food and lodging at the work camp only $125 a person, the Kraussers spent less than $1,000 for their two weeks. The Greek group leader often sauteed calamari for a treat at lunch, which was the main meal, and the seven other campers, all in their 20s and from Holland, France, Crete and Britain, shared recipes. Everyone ate together at a large table under a shade tree in front of the little school. When the Kraussers weren't wearing shorts...
...keeping with Alloro's fidelity to Italian custom, the portions are fit for an adolescent boy or a portly aging mafioso. Appetizers ($3-8) are convincingly disguised as entrees, entrees ($7-17) as next week's leftovers. Sauteed calamari arrive in a giant, steaming heap, covered by a light, fresh tomato sauce. Because the calamari are not breaded and fried, their flavor and freshness penetrate the domination of the tomato (that's right). The dish begs to be washed down by chewy bread (though the lacklustre bread should really have arrived at the table warm) and sips of sharp Chianti...
Seafood risotto was laughably large and formally antithetical to any preconceived notions about the nature of risotto. Literally dozens of steamed mussels (it must be admitted that it will take a while before I can stomach another mussel), clams, and, impossibly enough, more calamari drown a sizeable platter. A spicier, more complex version of the calamari appetizer's tomato sauce married the flavors of the fish. There was indeed risotto underneath the shellfish, though it was only made accessible after much digging. Layers of clothing were shed in the grueling process. A word of advice: it is an exercise...
...Orleans BBQ Shrimp appetizer ($7.95) is the highlight of the evening, with a perfectly spiced sauce that is just hot enough to make noses run without eyes tearing. The Curry Calamari ($5.25) is fried, but lightly enough that the folded paper basket stays crisp and the sweet chile sauce highlights the freshness of the seafood...
...menu is an eclectic mixture of the ordinary and the interesting: French and Italian, American and Middle Eastern, Japanese and nouveau whatever. The appetizers are on the boring side. You can get them anywhere, except for the hummus and tabouli, which you can get almost anywhere. We got the calamari ($4.95); the batter-to-squid ratio is favorably low, but the dipping sauce--and the overall dish--is dull...