My forays into Greek food in the area had not met with much success until I found Brothers Kouzina in Peabody in '17. Friendly staff, table service, and by far, the best kokinisto around. Their souvlaki plates and gyros were excellent, with the gyro meat coming freshly off the rotisserie. The Reuben and the Corned Beef Hash quickly became favorites. When they closed, it opened a big void in my lunch adventures. Some of it was filled by other Brothers, but none could replace Brothers Kouzina.
Then I heard a rumor that the chef at the much-missed Brothers Kouzina had opened his own restaurant, John's Bar & Grill in Beverly, so I had to check it out. It was true, John can be found in the open kitchen cooking away, and his wife is hosting on the weekends. All the old favorites are on the menu.
They are on the other end of Cabot Street from the Anchor. Plenty of
parking in the lot opposite the restaurant.
There are two vertical rotisseries in the kitchen, so the gyros (yee-ros) should be good. This is the much-missed Chef John in action.
I decided to try the two eggs breakfast with Corned Beef Hash ($8.48, not on the menu). It was as good as before, with very few fillers, and was very tasty. Homefries were nice with peeled potatoes. The light rye toast was properly buttered all over. The eggs were cooked as ordered but lacked browning, as usual, so they were more steamed than fried.
On my next visit, I had to try an old favorite, the Pork Souvlaki Plate ($13.99). "Served with a warm pita, greek salad, rice pilaf and tzatziki". I asked for roasted potatoes instead of the rice, and that didn't really work. My waitress promptly brought a plate of roasted potatoes, so I was happy. The rice was actually very nice, but the slightly lemony roasted potatoes were excellent. The pita had been toasted and was very crispy on one side. The greek salad was huge and very fresh with a mild dressing. I asked for the pork cooked pink, and it was. Didn't expect three skewers at lunch, so that was a delightful surprise. I don't really like yogurt, but the tzatziki was excellent and tasty. This is easily two meals for me. Did I say that I was very pleased to find Chef John again?
Baked Lamb ($13.99) aka Kokinisto with double roasted potatoes. Tender lamb and lemony potatoes, and it doesn't get any better than this. The traditional red sauce with greek seasoning was the best I have had in quite a while.
When I got here on Easter Sunday, there were several lamb dishes available. My previous selection of a breakfast dish went out the window. I picked the "Whole roasted spring lamb" with double roasted potatoes. It might have been whole at some point, but the pieces were roasted separately. The lamb was tender and actually tasted of lamb, and that's not very common these days. The lemony roasted potatoes were, as usual, excellent. Sorry for the terrible picture, but this was the best I could do.
More breakfast for lunch on a sunny and mild spring Mother's Day. Meaty Scrambler ($9.99). "Three eggs scrambled with bacon, ham and sausage, topped with American cheese". It's a simple dish, but oh so delicious! Homefries were cooked perfectly, and the cheese was melted. It was loaded with meats. The light rye was toasted perfectly. Well, at least three out of four pieces were. It was also buttered all the way to the edges. I'm not very happy if I get toast with a blob of butter in the middle. What are they thinking? There should have been leftovers of this, but I ate all of it. Burp!
We are getting near the end of the Covid-19 restrictions since I got a real menu today. I really can't recall the last time this happened.
Lunch Specials are served every day from 11 to 4. I picked the Baked Haddock (13.99). "Fresh native haddock baked in a lemon butter and wine sauce with cracker crumb topping". I picked mashed as one of my sides. -We don't do mashed anymore. It just gets wasted. I picked rice and green beans. No choice since the other veg was broccoli. I asked for lots of extra sauce. When the dish arrived, I got mashed potatoes! She made them especially for me! Things like this make me like this place even more. The beans got left on the plate since it was your typical greek cooked to death beans. Of the promised sauce, there wasn't any trace. None. The fish was dry, and overcooked, and/or previously frozen. The texture was not good. Clearly the worst dish so far, and it's surprising since everything else has been excellent.
HOUSE DELUXE ($14.99). "A Mouth Watering Combination of Gyro, Pork Souvlaki, Spinach Pie, Tzatziki and Pita". I thought this was part of the lunch specials and comes with starch and one veg, but it turns out to be part of the plates section and hence comes with rice and salad. The rice was quickly swapped with the excellent roasted potatoes. The salad is BIG with a nice dressing, but all the veggies need to be cut in half to be usable. It had plenty of crumbled feta. The pork souvlaki was cooked pink, so it was tender and juicy. If you are the first one to order gyro meat off the rotisserie, it's a good chance it will be a bit more than crisp on the outside, and it was. I should have entered through the bar entrance, so I could have had a look at the rotisserie before ordering. It was still tasty. The pita bread this time was really fresh and nicely warmed up. This is a lot of food, and I'm looking forward to my dinner of leftovers.
Today (Saturday 05/29/21) was the big day, no more masks! I must admit that this felt really strange after everyone being masked for 14 months. If asked to wear a mask, just do it. Don't argue since the business has the right to require it.
The service here is always excellent and friendly, and nothing is ever a problem.
Address: 392 Cabot St, Beverly, MA 01915 Phone: (978) 969-3871
The blog now has a new format. It will have more content and fewer posts. Please let me know what you think, good or bad. Use the contact form, or put it in the comments field. If you don't want the comment published, add NP since I approve all comments before publishing them. You can also email me.
No comments:
Post a Comment