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Most of the Dishes at Momos Would Delight the Gods, Others Would Leave Them Carping
• by Joe Pollack - Photo by Allyson Mace
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It's difficult to tell how deeply into his cheek owner Mike Johnson was digging his tongue when he named his University City restaurant, but it's the perfect restaurant name for those of us whose job it is to comment upon the foibles and follies of the human race. In other words, a critic.
Momos was the Greek god of sarcasm, blame, mockery and criticism. He was ejected from heaven by Zeus because of his constant carping and criticism of other gods. He can be seen in New Orleans at Mardi Gras time under the alternative spelling of Momus, but he is not related to the lower-case momos, a Nepalese dumpling stuffed with either meat or vegetables.
In any event, the current Momos, described as an "ouzaria taverna," or Grecian tavern where ouzo and other spirits may be found, is a relatively new inhabitant of the space at Gannon Avenue and North and South Road, where many restaurants have held forth through the years. If the Guru's memory serves, it was an ice cream parlor in the late ‘50s – that's 1950s. It's casual and relaxed, with a number of what appear to be regular patrons.
Johnson, who can be found wearing a chef's hat at three different locations and a construction worker's hard hat at a fourth, is the man in charge at Momos, visiting there a day or two a week. He's also part of the action at BARcelona Tapas Restaurant in Clayton and at Cyrano's in Webster Groves, and expects a Cuban-Spanish operation in Maplewood to make its debut in April.
The Guru never has been to Greece except through the pleasing cinematic illusions offered by "Zorba" and "Never on Sunday," and yet, Momos feels right. The servers say "Opa!" with an exclamation mark that is strictly a favor to the memory of Melina Mercouri – they really don't shout – when they bring the “saganaki,” the about-to-be-flaming cheese. It's satisfactory but not special, and I prefer the interior of the thick slice of cheese to have a more gooey consistency. Perhaps that's a quality of the kefalograveria cheese that Momos uses rather than the kasseri I'm more used to.
Like many other restaurants these days, Momos offers small plates ("tapas" in Spain, "meze" in the eastern Mediterranean), and while all are under $10, a hearty appetite can make the register jingle merrily. Two, or maybe three, small plates come close to a meal, and dividing one more dish and adding dessert can always fill the remaining vacant spaces.
The influence of seafood is strong, with squid, octopus, shrimp, mussels and several other seafood items available. The octopus, bathed in olive oil and lemon, was delicious, charred nicely on the outside and extremely flavorful, but slightly tough. Still, I'm very fond of grilled octopus and undoubtedly will try it again. The chilled version, with octopus, calamari and shrimp in a tart marinade, was better, and the plate had some curly endive, some mâche, a couple of olives and a few dried tomatoes. It was citrusy and delicious.
Classic avgolomeno soup, with chicken and rice and lemon, was barely OK, without much flavor, but the roasted eggplant soup was a winner, with the eggplant’s flavor heightened by being roasted. It was a winner in every regard and warming for a chill night.
Roasting vegetables does good things for them, as it did to beets, cut in chunks in a balsamic-olive oil dressing. A few chunks of beets were not cooked quite enough, but most of them were proper, as was the overall effect, upgraded by a heavy touch with the garlic. The plate also had some greens and a pleasing “skordalia,” a relish of puréed mashed potatoes and garlic, and sometimes other additional ingredients. Momos also serves a version of skordalia with lemon and oregano, another with sherry and tomatoes, depending on what it is accompanying. All are excellent.
“Taramosalata,” the salmon-caviar spread, and hummus, with chickpeas and garlic and olive oil, are very good, as are the eggplant fries, nicely battered, served hot and crisp with the sherry-tomato skordalia alongside.
We sampled the beef kabob and found it excellent. Tender beef was nicely marinated and cooked on the medium-rare side, with green and red bell peppers and some surprisingly sharp red onions alternating on the skewer. Wonderful roasted potato chunks – crispy outside, soft and creamy inside – accompanied the kabob and made the dish filling in addition to its superior tastes. Grilled lamb chunks also were outstanding, tasty and tender, and improved by a fig mustard that came alongside. A side dish of chickpea and feta cheese cakes, grilled to be nice and crisp, was a delight.
The wine list deals mostly with varieties from the Mediterranean, with Greece, Spain and Portugal dominating, and a dry, rich red from the Douro region of Portugal was perfect with the lamb. Service is brisk and friendly, and also casual to the extent that a dropped plate of food, on its way to the dishwasher, was allowed to sit on the floor an unconscionable length of time before it was cleaned up.
Oh, yes, one more thing: There was a belly-dancer performing in full costume one of the nights we visited, and her bright, buxom, smiling movements added a great deal to the atmosphere.
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