Kotopoula sta Karbouna

UPDATE: Summer 2012 – CLOSED

Here I am, writing to you from my family’s summer home, just outside of Nea Kallikratia, Halkidiki in northern Greece. The beach is just minutes away by foot and bars, tavernas, farmer’s markets are all nearby. My family has had a summer home here since 1989 after spending some summers as guests at our relatives’ homes since 1978. Nea Kallikratia is close to Thessaloniki (30 minute drive) yet it is also far away. You need to get away from the city, all your troubles seem far away yet you can speed back to the city if need be.

Kotopoula sta Karbouna (Chicken over hot coals) has been serving up grilled and rotisserie meats to the locals (and tourists) for years, despite the sign’s 1993 indication. The taverna has changed hands but the same quality food has been served up year after year. Located at the foot of the town’s main “plateia” (square) and within sight of the sea, “Kotopoula” is easy to find and one need only follow their nose as the aroma of rotisserie chicken leads you to one of their tables.

Kotopoula is all about the chicken. Slow roasted on the spit over hot coals, seasoned with Greek herbs, salt and pepper and always well-cooked, juicy and every bit as tasty as when I first had their chicken. Quarter, half or whole chicken orders are served with a generous grating of Kefalotyri cheese.

This Kallikratia taverna also serves souvlaki and grilled pork belly but on this evening, we ordered some pork kontosouvli: big chunks of pork that are seasoned and skewered on the rotisserie and served with a sprinkle of sea salt and dried Greek oregano.

The third and final meat order was the Kokoretsi, lamb offal that’s seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano and then skewered and wrapped in caul fat and yards and yards of intestines. I was really impressed with their Kokoretsi as it was soft, tender on the inside and crisp on the outside. My only beef is that there should have been more sweetbreads in the mix.

To wash down our meal, we ordered some retsina…or as I’ve recently heard it being called – pine wine. Pine resin is added to this ages-old wine making technique that’s a fave of Greek taverna goers. I chose a bottle of Georgiadi retsina. There are two brands of this retsina as the brothers sadly parted ways and even have their operations on opposite sides of the highway!

The usual Greek salad was ordered (NO LETTUCE IN IT) and the deep fried zucchini chips looked really good on the neighboring table. Our server, Mitso recommended the house-made Tzatziki. For those of you that have tried my recipe…this one impressed me!

Another pleasant surprise was to see that Greece’s original Greek beer, Fix Hellas was being brewed once again. A victim of Greece’s acceptance int the European Community, Fix couldn’t weather the competition of the big Euro brews. I ordered a bottle and drank to this beer’s goof future.

You can read more about the history of Fix Hellas beer here.

Kotopoula sta  Karvouna is located in Nea Kallikratia’s main plateia, tel. is 23990 – 21 549.

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© 2007-2010 Peter Minakis