Estilo Brazil
5818 COLUMBUS SQUARE 614-269-8990, www.estilobrazil.com July 6 (out of five) $7.99 to $11.99 a pound
Delicious grilled meats star at this inexpensive Brazilian cafeteria, which sells offerings by the pound.
chayote, fried sweet plantains, potato sticksm vegetable salad, fried yuca, grill-seared steak strips, pork ribs, Brazilian sausages, pork tenderloin with wine sauce, feijoada, coxinha, quibe, guarana Antarctica
After recently visiting Panini Opa for the first time, I regretted not dining at the nearly six-year-old establishment earlier and often. Because with its excellent values, pleasant ambience and flavorful fresh food served in generous portions, Panini Opa has shot to the top of my local Greek restaurant list.
Panini Opa’s first name is Italian, but its Greekness shines through. This isn’t surprising as the resume of co-owner Orion Trifoni includes two defunct local Greek Corner restaurants as well as the Koble GreekItalian Grill, a predominantly Greek eatery in Westerville. A menu scan reveals that Panini Opa’s Italian influences are more prevalent in its decor than its kitchen.
Belying a fast-food-style exterior, the restaurant possesses a popular patio amusingly fashioned like an ancient Greek temple — albeit one with a TV-screen and “welcome” written in Greek on its pediment.
Inside the comfortable one-room eatery, you’ll find amber lighting, varnished wooden tables, padded chairs and international soccer on TVs, plus souvenir- shopstyle posters and classical statue knockoffs. You’ll also find smiling regulars and a nearly unending stream of takeout orders being assembled.
Everything is simultaneously ordered at the counter, so imbibing newcomers might want to peruse the sizable menu while strolling by the better-than-expected wine selection near the entrance. Wine prices are $5 per glass; the best deals are on Mondays and Tuesdays,
when bottles are half-price at $13 for whites and $14 for reds. Mythos Greek beers ($4) and Peroni Italian beers ($4) are also available.
The entire menu is generally wellexecuted, but it’s hard to beat a buttery, dill-scented $3 spanakopita reheated until the spinach-and-feta pastry is crisp and flaky. The creamy avgolemono soup ($4) and the fresh, huge and properly made Greek salad are other fine choices from the appetizer page. Ditto for the dip sampler ($8), with thick tzatziki, chickpeaforward hummus and a spicy feta spread ($6 a la carte).
The Italian-style meatballs ($8) are likely the heftiest selection from this section — and that’s saying something. Four reasonably springy, good-tasting, cheese-fortified orbs arrive in a pool of simple tomato sauce perked up with Romano cheese and chopped fresh tomatoes.
Not surprisingly, Panini Opa’s gyro ($6) rises above the norm. The spicy gyro ($7), with banana peppers and spicy feta sauce, rises higher still. Rising even higher for me: the fish gyro ($7), made like the spicy gyro but starring plenty of deftly fried red snapper. If only more fish tacos were this good.
A few paninis are offered. The spicychicken version I tried ($10) was loaded with flavor and comes with a side, such as the enormous lemon potatoes, which are even better with a squirt of lemon.
Speaking of enormous, anyone who can finish the pastitsio ($11) in one sitting deserves to be commemorated on the wall like another legendary Greek hero. The lasagnalike tower features layers of macaroni, bright tomato sauce and a boatload of tender, well-seasoned ground beef all crowned by a custardy, cheese-enriched, golden-brown bechamel cap.
If that sounds delicious — it is — but you’d prefer cooked-to-sweet slabs of zucchini and eggplant instead of pasta, get the similar moussaka ($12).
The massive lamb kebabs entree ($15) — four large meat knobs skillfully grilled with huge hunks of sweet zucchini and peppers — is served with fragrant, loose rice and the good Greek salad.
The gratifying, made-in-house almond cookies are a bargainpriced sweet at $1 apiece. For something larger, the outsidesourced limoncello cake is worth the $3.50 “splurge.”