Kanella Brunch

Walking around center city east in blisteringly hot heat, we got hungry. The smoothies were awesome, but we needed more substantive food. After not being able to find a seat at the last drop, we tried to eat at mixto. But they told us there would be a long wait, even though there were several empty tables. This after they apparently eyed us up and down and sneered. Boo on them. So suck it mixto. So we walked a few blocks over to Kanella, which I'd remembered was close by and had been voted best breakfast in the US by Esquire mag.

You know how when you see pictures of greece you see all white buildings with the blue everywhere? That's what Kanella looks like too. You're totally transported, and it definitely has a greek feel. It was surprisingly not packed here, which was a welcome surprise. We didn't have to wait, yay! The servers all have beards... perhaps it's a requirement? There were a bunch of people who had ordered a greek frappe, some type of cold whipped coffee drink. J was saving his caffeine fix for the last drop, so he skipped this. Maybe next time.

There were so many things on the brunch menu that looked amazing. Most of it, we had no idea what it all was. All these words and names were complete mysteries to us, despite J's partially greek heritage. We were both clueless. We watched various dishes coming out and it all looked great and exotic and enticing. One strange thing is that they have english breakfast on the menu. Yes, this greek restaurant has an englisih breakfast! This is a total find. BTW, the brunch menu is fairly new, as it was just added. Before, it was just lunch or dinner menus only, even though breakfast items were on the lunch menu. Now they have a specific brunch menu, which is not yet on their website.
Anyhoo, J went with the cypress breakfast. This was what had been voted the best breakfast. This plate had 2 eggs fried in olive oil, grilled halloumi, grilled lounza, bread, and veggie salad. Before seeing this dish, we had no idea what halloumi or lounza was. So here's the 411. Halloumi is a cypriot cheese, with a consistency similar to mozzarella, made from goat or sheep's milk. It is a hearty and dense cheese. And it is quite delicious. Lounza is sliced smoked fillet of pork, grilled . It's basically like canadian bacon, but thicker, and even better. J felt his eggs were cooked to perfection. And he loved the salad as well. In fact, he agreed with Esquire. It is the best breakfast he's ever had.
I wanted to try everything, but alas, I could only pick one dish. So after wavering, I went with the calimari. Can you see the calamari? They're whole squid, they're just little tiny ones or little baby ones. Like little round white puffballs of squidy godness. They're delicately grilled and whole, so for those of you that are squeamish, you may want to pass on this one. Mmm... chewy and smoky and delicious. This was served with a mixed couscous full of veggies. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up from the both of us.

Everyone was super nice here. The owner/chef was out on the floor a bunch of the time (with his piercing blue eyes and all), and let us ask him a bunch of questions about the menu and kept checking in on us. His kids were there too, and so was his wife. The whole place felt very comfortable and warm and family oriented. I love it when the owner's family just kind of hangs out. It's just a nice and happy place. You can't help but enjoy it, it feels like you're hanging out in greece, not that I know what that's really like. Can I just repeat again how nice everyone was and how much we liked the food? We're definitely going to come back here. Dinner is calling us! I really wanted to try dessert too, but my damn belly was too full. I need to start stretching my belly now in preparation for next time.