Paul Delios

PAUL
DELLIOS • 4$ • Owner/Chef • Meze
Estiatorio, Charlestown

ASSIMILATING
FAST I grew up in
this business as a kid. Like most Greek-Americans when they
came over, my grandfather, uncle and father opened
restaurants. In America, Greeks were a generation behind the
Italians and two behind the Irish. Being self-conscious
about their difficult language, they feared that Americans
wouldn’t accept their food. Tony’s Spa, their Chelsea diner,
served only American food. They’d serve what they knew from
Greek cooking that Americans would eat: baked haddock, prime
rib, roast chicken, rice, eggs and potatoes. When I was
four, I’d wake up when my father got up at 2AM to go to
work, so mom asked dad to take me with him. Dad and grandpa
sat me on a bucket to peel boiled potatoes for home
fries.

HIGH
RISING My love
affair with food began while working in my dad’s bakeries –
Mrs. Foster’s in Lynn and Kane’s Donuts in Saugus – though
it was more chemistry than cuisine. I grew my apprenticeship
with lots of old-timers into a catering business,
Rosamarina’s, through being vice-president of the Saugus
Italian-American Club. I ran the kitchen at Gannon Golf
Course in Lynn, then opened Paolo’s Trattoria in Charlestown
in 1999. When Bill Galatis and I met in 2OO2, we thought the
time was ripe in Boston to open a restaurant featuring
authentic Greek cuisine, with a contemporary approach. We
tested nearly every dish on Meze’s menu – moussaka, my
grandmother’s lamb shanks – first at Paolo’s.

GREEK
RENAISSANCE Greek
immigrants were afraid of failure. At home, they survived
two World Wars, decimation and subjugation under the Turks,
occupation by the Germans, and their own Civil War. Then
terrible governments: corrupt Communists followed by
do-nothing Democrats. The Greeks, with poor funding and
terrible marketing, exported whatever junk wines they
produced. Now since the ‘8Os, Greece is undergoing a
renaissance. Through European Union’s open doors, Greeks now
travel freely, experience Europe, find new ingredients to
cook with, enjoy investments by the Germans, Italians and
French. The economic upturn, the 2OO4 Olympics, and more
aggressive marketing have positively affected the Greek wine
industry. Wineries are hiring enologists from all over,
planting more, and making great wines, like this (Gaia
Estate) Agiorgitiko we’re enjoying. They’re finally getting
overdue exposure.

BULL
by the HORNS At
Athens’ food and wine show last year, I was knocked out by
the universally high quality and variety of the foods,
wines, displays. The Greeks are grabbing this bull by the
horns! They’re becoming adventuresome. Last time over, I
remember we were standing amid the Temple of Zeus’ 5O-foot
columns in Nemea, looking up at the mountain and across at
the ancient athletes’ gymnasium, drinking straight Merlot
planted by hand by winemaker George Polybos to blend with
his reds – what a sweet moment!

SETTING
the PACE Greek
restaurants in New York – Molyvos, Milos, Avra – opened long
before us, but never shared our staunch faith in Greek
wines. Now they’re watching what we do. When we announced
going all Greek, it had a deep effect on importers. We get
our wines from AKG Imports, Boutari’s boutique wines from
United, and Ruby Wines. Bob and Ted Rubin helped us broker
an agreement to bring in wines we need through Americus in
New York.

RECENT
CONVERTS Greece’s
nine demarked growing regions stretch from north (mainly
indigenous reds) thru the Peloponnese, to the islands,
notably Crete (mainly whites). Greece has dozens of fine
native varietals, like Moschofilero (crisp, racy,
green-apple white) and St. George (aka Agiorgitiko, whose
handling, soil and climate can make it light as rosre or
deep as Merlot). With European Union funds, the wineries are
buying new equipment, building facilities, hiring
international enologists, and pressing for
change.

THROW
OUT the ROSIN
Somebody – possibly (producer) Achaia-Clauss – made a bad
mistake in the ‘5Os marketing retsina (dry white wine,
strongly flavored with pine resin) to the USA as ‘the wine
of Greece’. Ancient Greeks used the resin to seal and
preserve shipped amphoras and kegs. Fact is, it’s one of the
least consumed wines in Greece. Greeks typically drink deep,
bold reds and refreshing, non-resinated whites.

The
RIGHT GUY As we got
close to opening, I told Bill that I knew continental wines
– Italian, French, Spanish – but confessed I was not up to
speed on Greece. He said, ‘Well, I may have just the
fellow.’ Next day, I met Foti Stamos. Foti, who doubles as
general manager, puts his heart and soul into his work: he
eats, drinks, sleeps wine. He and I work very well together;
he’s constantly bringing new wines for Meze, and keeps us up
to speed on new developments. He’s proud to educate the
world on man’s most ancient varietals, still being made in
Greece.

GREEK
LIST Our first wine
list had 9O Greek wines out of 15O, with 3O each Italian and
American. Our idea was to stick with Greek wines and roots:
the Italians were of ancient Primitivo line, the domestics
by Greek-American vintners – Lolonis in Napa, Pindar and
Duckwalk on Long Island. We ran Lolonis’ entire line for a
while, but we could not get Topolis. Then our staff sat down
and took notes on every wine we tried: 6OO wines in 3 months
– what a challenge! It made me respect winetasting as a
demanding job! That list won a Wine Spectator Award of
Excellence. Our current regular list has 6O Greek wines, and
– as we’ve build a name for ourselves among Greek vintners –
were building a cellar and going after reserves.

WIDE
RESERVES Our
reserve list is a work-in-progress that is Foti’s baby. (The
list includes Greek-made international varietals, like
Lazaridis’ Cabernet Sauvignon and Domain Katsaros’
Cab/Merlot, and Italian wines from ancient vines, like
single-vineyard Aglianicos of Feudi di San Gregorio in
Campania and Nero di Troia of Rivera in Puglia.) (Major
producer) Boutari allocated 84 cases of their boutique
portfolio for the East Coast; 42 cases went to New York and
the other 42 came right here.

MAKING
BIG WAVES The Greek
renaissance is going on all across the country – Washington,
DC, San Francisco, Atlanta. Even Chicago’s Greektown, which
is huge and serves up mainly old-school Greek ‘soul food’
(like spaghetti and meatball Italian), is upgrading both the
cuisine and the wine list. It’s kicking up to a higher
level. And it started back at the source. I can name you
restaurants around Athens – 48, Up On The Roof, Right &
Left, Mets, Mamakos – where chefs are updating the cuisine
markedly. Hilton Resorts asked Milos in New York to open in
Athens, so they’re importing American lobster and some
California wines to give Greece a taste of
America.

HOT
REDS When they
prove popular by the bottle, we sell them by the glass. Some
are blends with French varietals to beef up marketing and
flavors. I use Lolonis Zinfandel to sauce kondrafileto
(sirloin); Anastazi’s reserve blend goes in a sauce for
paithakia (lamb chops). Sweet Mavrodaphne goes in a
peppercorn sauce for brizola (tenderloin).

HOT
WHITES Nasiakos
Moschofilero, Heliopolis Assyrtiko. We do carry Champagne
(Perrier Jouet) and domestic bubbly (Westport Rivers,
Roederer Estate).

BEERS
Alpha from Athens, Keo from Cyprus.

SPIRITS
Ouzo in the creme brulee is our signature dessert. Ouzo also
goes into Cretan tomato sauce for shrimp. I deglaze
pan-fried saganaki cheese with lemon juice and Metaxa
brandy. Barman Steve Tartaglia has a range of single-malts,
tequilas, and vodkas; his drinks have Greek names. Steve’s
“Mykonos Martini” is Stoli Vanilla and fresh mint shaked
with white grape juice.

LAST
READ Sideways was
truly one of the best movies I’ve seen. It showed the
disfunctionality of men who are perceived as pillars of
manhood. At the end of the day, men are just as messed up
emotionally as women. I’m reading Melissa Layton Turner’s
amazing biography of Emeril Lagasse. He and I had similar
lives: grew up in Massachusetts, watching bakers at work. He
took a chance going into a seedy area of New Orleans after
Commander’s Palace and keyed its regentrification; I did
something similar at Paolo’s, livening up that end of
Charlestown.

PHILOSOPHY
Zorba the Greek! I live life as full as I can, in tune with
my surroundings, and close as I can to nature. It sounds
corny, but it brings peace to my soul.