Saturday, October 17, 2009

Looking for the freshest seafood this side of Crete? Try Kellari

Stavros Aktipis is the man from Manhattan with his eye on the prize of having the freshest seafood in DC.
He took over the old Restaurant K by Allison Swope at 1700K St. N.W.
His crew got the place finished very tastefully in record time. Nice fixtures and warm, cozy touches abound.
Stavros himself is a family man who loves to have kids in his restaurant. He says kids make him feel lucky and invulnerable, like nothing bad can happen when his family is around. Nice guy.
Anyhow, on to the food! I only tasted a couple of dishes as I already had plans that night, but what I had and saw was good. This is a view of the fish display. You choose what fish you want, order it by the pound, tell them how you want it prepared, and it's done family-style. You can order a couple of whole fish or shellfish for the family.
The light was a little dim, but as you can tell here it's very cozy. I like the cut-outs with the Greek words that are back-lit. Not sure what they mean, but it's nice looking.

Stavros and me. I deal with a lot of restaurant owners in my line of work and I have to say that he is one of the nicer guys I've met. He's above-board and does what he says he's going to do. At the end of the day that's what you're left with. Did you keep your committments or not?


This is the flaming cheese. Pretty fuzzy picture, but the waiter was about to dowse it with lemon juice to put it out so I was in a hurry.



These are the sardines, grilled simply and quickly with lemon, olive oil, and parsley. Crispy on the outside, tender and flaky on this inside.
Bottom line, it's worth the trip to DC. Bring your family. It's that kind of place. Tell Stavros, or the General Manager, Yacine, that I sent you!
Thanks for reading folks.



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