Name: Pétros 82
Contact: 111 Princes’ Blvd., 647-943-9300, petros82.com, petros82.to Neighbourhood: Exhibition
Owner: Peter Eliopoulos (byPeterandPauls.com, David Duncan House)
Chef: Richard Andino (Flow, North 44, Dyne)
Accessibility: Fully accessible
The food
Peter Eliopoulos has been in the hospitality business for a long time—almost four decades. Today, his banquet hall business hosts three dozen weddings weekly, but back in 1982 he had only one restaurant: a Greek counter in North York that served his grandmother’s best recipes. Nothing was fancy, but the place developed a serious fanbase. People would call in advance to put dibs on the roast potatoes.
If it was up to Eliopoulos, the menu at Pétros 82 would be a carbon copy of his grandma’s greatest hits (her lamb chops and pasta did make the menu), but chef Richard Andino complements the traditional Greek recipes with dishes like a miso black cod with quince and kale in a sweet chili-soy butter, and a walnut-crusted rack of lamb. There’s even a fully vegan, gluten-free eggplant lasagna on offer.
This phyllo-baked goat feta is left to dry for 12 hours before it’s folded into pastry and baked. The golden brick is then drizzled with ouzo-spiked honey and adorned with a hunk of honeycomb and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. $17.
This orzo pasta is another one of Eliopoulos’s grandmother’s recipes that has made it onto the menu without any tweaks. The tomato-based pasta is studded with peas, and the sauce gets its richness from an ample helping of myzithra (a Greek cheese). $25.
These “pringles” are actually deep-fried coins of zucchini and eggplant covered in grated kefalograviera. $23.
For this dish, octopus is first brined, then steamed until tender. It’s then left to dry, drowned in an olive oil-oregano bath and finally thrown on the grill. The Portugal-imported octopus comes on top of a potato-tomato-olive stew. $28.
Eliopoulos thinks the best dishes are the simplest, like these lamb chops, which are made using his grandmother’s recipe. The lamb is marinated in a bath of olive oil, oregano and a special blend of garlic-infused Maldon salt, oregano and chili. The chops come on a bed of olive oil–sautéed bitter greens. $13 per chop.
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All of the ice creams, including these baklava-inspired boules, are made in-house. Pastry chef Bertie Tanaya combines wildflower honey, lemon, crushed pistachios and rosewater to make this ice cream taste like the phyllo-layered pastry. It’s then topped with a walnut crumble, candied nuts and more honey. $11.
The sokolatina chocolate is built on a rich brownie base that’s then topped with a layer of sesame-praline dark chocolate mousse. Some tahini-whipped mascarpone props up the chocolate roof. On the side: a crumble of caramelized white chocolate and some zephyr caramel ice cream. $14.
The kitchen makes three different salt blends. Pictured here is the Pétros salt, which is flavoured with oregano, chili and garlic. The fish blend combines salt with lemon, lime and orange zest, and the steak salt has rosemary, thyme and orange in it.
Eliopoulos goes back to Sparta regularly, and he brings back suitcases of Greek oregano, and barrels of olives and olive oil. He sells his own line of products in the restaurant.
Here’s chef Richard Andino posing with a plate of pringles.
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Owner Peter Eliopoulos.
The drinks
“Almost everything on the wine list is influenced by the ocean with an old-world direction,” says sommelier Matthew Ius, who has also included some small-batch Ontario producers, including Pearl Morissette, to sate the hotel guests’ thirst for local stuff. The majority of the bottles, though, are from old-world coastal regions such as Sicily, Santorini, Corsica, Lebanon and the Azores. And with names like Alexander III and Gladiator, the cocktails have a distinctly Greek influence.
The Santorini, made with blueberry liqueur (Crème de Myrtille), reminds Ius of the island’s iconic blue roofs. The final three components of the drink are Belvedere vodka, St. Germain and lemon. $20.
Although the name alludes to the south of France, Ius was thinking about Istrian Lavender fields when he came up with the Spritz Provençal. This spritz variant combines lavender-infused Aperol with grapefruit and Fiol Prosecco. $14.
“What does a traditional old European man have for breakfast? Coffee and cookies,” says Ius, whose Coffee and Cookie cocktail is a play on the espresso martini. This cup is made with Patron XO coffee liqueur, Belvedere, Bailey’s and a shot of Nespresso coffee. It’s garnished with a tiny Oreo. $18.
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Sommelier Matthew Ius.
The space
The 10,000-square-foot space has been done up in a Greek colour scheme of blue hues and white. A 1,200-bottle glass-encased wine cellar separates the laid-back bar area from the 160-seat dining room, and an open kitchen runs the length of the entire restaurant. There’s also a private dining area in the back that can accommodate parties of up to 100 people. Come next spring, a 50-seat patio will overlook the historic Stanley Barracks.
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