Vasilakos: Farm-to-Table Dining Experience in Polydendri

The Vasilakos household have been stockbreeders and farmers since time immemorial, and their tavern serves solely meals from their farms: grilled ewe, rotisserie lamb, and frigadelia (lamb liver wrapped in suet), in addition to do-it-yourself bread created from their very own wheat, dairy merchandise, and greens. Vangelis Vasilakos is greater than only a taverna proprietor. He’s firstly a miller, stockbreeder, and farmer. His wheat fields, which span roughly 1,250 acres, produce emmer wheat, durum wheat, gremenia mushy wheat, and one or two different outdated native varieties, which he grinds in his stone mill (a beautiful wood construction).

He makes use of his personal all-whole meal flour to make his well-known, large sourdough Arvanitic loaves and cheese bread. Their dense and aromatic crumb is right for absorbing the juices from the grilled meats on the plates.

Vasilakos Taverna makes a speciality of grilled and rotisserie meats sourced immediately from their herds and farms. Grandfather Vangelis Vasilakos opened the taverna at its present location in 1936, serving grilled meats from his herds. Grandfather Vangelis additionally had water buffaloes, which they’d slaughter annually on December twentieth. They’d then salt and hung the meat wrapped in parchment paper within the freezing chilly – “it was chilly again then in Kapandriti and Mazi, not like now when we now have spring in the course of winter”–and serve beginning February 20th, at the start of Carnival season.

The namesake grandson does his finest to observe in his grandfather’s footsteps. The ewe, a conventional Attic dish, is served right here as succulent grilled ribs. Nonetheless, in addition they make meaty and thick Arvanitic sausage (made totally of lamb meat) utilizing just a few spices, which is served on a wood board with lemon wedges. Lamb chops and steaks, all charcoal-grilled, are served on wood boards, together with hand-cut fried potatoes from the household farm. This time of 12 months, seasonal salads embrace cabbage and lettuce salad from the household vegetable backyard, in addition to boiled wild greens from the encircling space, served with oil and lemon.

On weekends, the massive rotisserie is stuffed with lamb and kokoretsi, and on weekdays, with kontosouvli. Once more, the meat comes from the household herds, as do many different gadgets on the menu, together with the feta, which is served plain or saganaki-style and bathed in olive oil from the household grove, the tzatziki made with sheep’s milk yogurt, the spicy cheese dip created from feta and yogurt combined collectively, and, in fact, the frigadelia.

“Within the outdated days, , frigadelia have been served in any respect the celebrations, from weddings and baptisms to main agricultural occasions,” says Vangelis Vasilakos. “It was the primary meze we ready for each festive event. Individuals used to have fun again then; households and mates would get collectively, and irrespective of how a lot work there was, it was all a celebration. Now we’ve by some means closed ourselves off and not get pleasure from what we do.”

This text was beforehand revealed in Greek at gastronomos.gr.