No ouzo, but 13 of us (all but a couple are alums from NU, with four of them in town for a wedding, the rest local) had a very nice dinner at Avli Taverna last Friday. It was a warm but not stifling evening, they had almost all the tables in the place -- including our large group -- outside on the sidewalk, mostly under canopies.
It was definitely a weird experience, the first dining out we've done since the pandemic with a large group (all of us fully vaccinated), with cheek-kissing and food and drink sharing. Maybe not back to normal, but we could see it from there.
I don't know about other people's drinks (mostly wines), but I ordered a "Dark and Kinky" (I'll always get the Mezcal cocktail when given a choice). Tasty, but needed more lime, which the server was happy to provide.
We passed around apps -- one of each of the four spreads (tzatziki, tarama, eggplant, spiced feta), a couple orders of the tomato croquettes (basically fried non-green tomatoes, very tasty), and halloumi with honey (which I always think belongs more on the dessert menu but somebody's always got a sweet tooth).
A couple people ordered the avgolemono soup and I got a taste. Universally agreed to be an inferior variety: not enough egg, not enough lemon, weak broth. It added up to more like Campbell's chicken soup with rice. Really the only down note of the evening.
For main courses, pretty much everything on the menu got ordered by somebody, and we had a great time. SueF had the pork gyros, which came with feta-topped fries. All quite good. I had the grilled seafood platter, which was really weird: it's the only dish that arrived without a side dish or starch, it's just a big plate of grilled shrimp (relatively small ones) calamari (oddly big pieces), octopus (good sized chunks of tender tentacle) and onions. All really tasty, but I felt like it should have been marked as something for sharing with a couple sides. It's a really big plate of shellfish, I took enough home for a couple lunches.
Baklava ice cream was a nice finish: it came in modest cubes making it easy to share, we had a couple for the table.
Avli's staff remains exemplary, the location is just enough off the Lincoln Park main drags to be neighborhood-y (and street parking is plentiful).
Just a note: I'd gone through about 5 or six restaurants before settling on Avli Taverna: I'd suggested Elizabeth, but it was too pricey for a couple folks. Galit wanted us to rent a room and guarantee an over-$100/pp minimum (it's not an event, just friends having dinner), Avli handled it without a hitch, and was perfect for the folks who flew in and were staying at The Lincoln Hotel.
What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang