Grilla Greek Kouzina
All the grilled meats, the fluffy pita bread, the super fresh vegetables. Greek food might be my ultimate culinary obsession, so I want to show you a place that serves fine dining Greek flavors in a fast food setting. So let's get a taste of Grilla.
We are on Broadway in Taunton, Massachusetts, at Grilla Greek Kouzina. It's a family owned and operated quick service Greek restaurant run by George and Ulta. They are super proud of their Greek heritage, and they're excited to serve their century old Greek family recipes here in Taunton. When you step in, it's set up sort of like a Greek Chipotle. You have the whole assembly line here full of all the vegetables and meats and sauces and spreads. The specialty is definitely takeout and delivery, but I like to take my time, take a seat in the dining room, because it's a Thriller Grilla night, and no one's gonna save me from the feast I'm about to strike.
Talk about a dish worth driving to: this is the platter they are really famous for here at Grilla. It's known as the ultimate Greek Feast, and I can see why. First of all, you have all of their amazing fresh grilled meats. You have their marinated chicken and their house marinated pork. Of course, you have to have some lamb. And these lamb chops are spectacular. To kick up the flavor even more, you have the Greek sausage, loukaniko. This stuff is so fresh and so flavorful. You can see little bits of orange peel in there, and there's plenty of other stuff. You have some nice, plump Greek style meatballs, perfectly golden and crispy fried zucchini fritters. The whole thing is laid out over a giant bed of their hand cut Greek style fries. Of course, you got to have some of those stuffed grape leaves, and they throw a few vegetables around the platter, you know, because people like to keep it light. Obviously, the Greeks love their dips and spreads. You have the tzatziki sauce and the spicy whipped feta is so good, has a real nice punch. Plus it's served with enough pita bread to serve all of Taunton. It is a lot of food. It's a lot of tastes, a lot of textures, a ton of flavor, and the whole thing costs less than 200 bucks. And that, by the way, is the most expensive thing on the whole menu by far, everything else is served really fast and really affordably.
On the more affordable side of things, they have sandwiches and salads and rice bowls. Here's something that has become very popular in Greece today. It's called skepasti. Basically, it's the Greek equivalent of a quesadilla. So you got your pita, a ton of cheese goes in here. You got your tomatoes and onions in there. Of course, pick any meat you want. Their most popular is definitely the chicken. So you got your pita on the bottom, your pita on the top, and then the whole thing gets pressed Panini style, so it comes off the grill piping hot. The cheese is super melty. They chop it up into quarters, serve it with a side of fries. All you got to do is give it a little dip into their signature Grilla sauce. Melty, toasty, impossibly delicious and addictive.
On the traditional side of the menu, I definitely recommend the spanakopita, the Greek style spinach pie. You can see that flaky, golden brown phyllo dough on the outside. It's so crispy and light. Inside, you have the spinach and the feta cheese all just melting together into one delicious mouthful. Matter of fact, I'd like to get a mouthful right now. It's so crispy, so light, so tasty. And now I got my vegetables for the day.
Now let's talk about gyros. I've eaten at a lot of Greek restaurants, but I have never seen a gyro like this one: the Surf and Turf Jumbo Gyro. Inside the pita bread, you have a mix of steak tips and grilled shrimp and lobster. It's pretty much a miracle that they could get all of these ingredients wrapped up into one sandwich, but somehow the masters at Grilla have done it. It's delicious, don't get me wrong, but honestly, there might be too much happening here. I mean, I don't know if I'd eat this every day, but you should certainly taste this once in your life.
I'm usually a gyro traditionalist. I like to keep it simple. This one is known as the Corfu. You take that fresh grilled pita bread layer on a nice thread of their tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, onions. A lot of people think a traditional Greek gyro is made with lamb, but it's not. It's made with pork. Finish it off with a handful of Greek style fries. Add in some seasoning, and you end up with not just a gyro. It's a super gyro.
When it comes to dessert, my all time favorite is this one. It's called Bougatsa. It's all wrapped up in that phyllo dough, stuffed with a custard. They sprinkle some cinnamon and powdered sugar over the top, it is served nice and warm, and it has an incredible crunch. So whether you want to come in here for a quick lunch or you want to sit down for a serious Greek feast, every meal is a thriller at Grilla.
