The King Of Seafood

If you want good seafood you should go to a Greek restaurant. These are people who know fish, thanks to millennia of bringing in multitudes of seafood and shellfish. They also know how to cook them too, infusing them with lemon or sumac, delicately roasting or frying. That is the life and love of famed restaurateur Costas Spiliadis. He is one of the pillars of Greek American cooking in the New World.

Alan Richman, famous in his own right, as Dean of Food Journalism at The French Culinary Institute and winner of fourteen (!) James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards conducted this in depth interview with one of the world's best chefs.Chef Spiliadis is a multifaceted , interesting person with an even more interesting background. Food and cooking was not on his radar. He came to New York to study at NYU. His earliest cooking forays were cooking dirt cheap chicken necks in the room he had rented. He left for John Hopkins University to be near his older brother, Stellios. That didn't suit him,, Being a foreign student, he couldn't participate in the protests against the new Greek government along with the racism he saw in Baltimore.. He left for freer thinking Montreal., being afraid that if he returned to Greece he would either be drafted or jailed for his political views Again food was not in his sites - not yet. He helped found a Greek radio station, Radio Centre Ville and also acted in amateur productions. It was in 1979 he opened up his first Milos restaurant,in Montreal, instantly drawing a crowd and a fans.

Chef Spiliadis instantly changed the way people thought about Greek cuisine which was men in paper hats, standing in front of a shawarma machine. It went from being thought of from rustic to classic. His many restaurants, all named Milos, feature recipes that would be on the tables of millionaires and working class. There are lamb chops in lemon and a meze plate , featuring tzatziki, taramosalata and htipiti, the last a feta and red pepper spread. There's also grilled octopus and dishes made with Greek yogurt along with  dessert menu with karydopita, a homemade walnut cake and of course , the classic baklava. There is also loukoumades, traditional Greek doughnuts with thyme honey and galactoboureko, phyllo dough filled with vanilla and lemon zest custard. There is also Chef Spiliadis signature dishes as well, one being his well  known delicately fried zucchini and eggplant slices. The slices  are cut paper thin and dipped in a batter that's as thin as the glue that binds the famed Greek bamboo kites.His Greek yogurt is not fat free. He believes that taste doesn't originate in the head but in the mouth. Food should be flavorful not subject to trends. He is also a perfectionist when it comes to both the foods and restaurants. Flower displays are under just as much strict scrutiny as the catch of the day. There will be scathing emails if there isn't.

Chef Costas Spiliadis is a maverick on both the Greek and the international restaurant  scene. His life is seafood and his recipes. He has made them the must haves on any gourmand's list.