Melina makes the Mediterranean (eg Greek) so close and so good (11-19-23)

 We took a dear friend to dinner last night and since she lives in North Bethesda, we decided to try MELINA located in the wonderful new area up Rockville Pike at Old Georgetown Road that has become so popular for dining, hotels, shopping and more. It's quite a large space but very comfy and has a hugely tall interior that unfortunately has nothing to buffer the noise on the ceilings which makes the din a tad unbearable. That said, we managed as we were in a cozy comfy booth at the end of the room with a fun mirrored table!  Our server Daniel was very helpful with suggestions and explanations, and we settled in with a bottle of Assyrtiko Karamalegos from Feredini in Santorini that was crisp and refreshing with our many starters which are great to share here...think tapas gone Greek or mezze.

Tuna Tartare here is not spicy but benefits from some Greek ingredients such as Kalamata Olives, Chickpeas, Capers and a yummy Tarama Cream with some crispy "Phyllo" chips that are really fried dough. The Tarama cream was yummy and indeed we wishes that TaramaSalata was on the menu. The Beef Tartare is also super yummy with some twists like a spicy tomato paste, egg yolk custard, mint, Graviera cheese and some nice toasted sourdough to load it onto. There was sadly a small blond hair atop this dish and the price was immediately removed by the manager who was more than apologetic(note nobody at our table has blond hair and he said nobody in the kitchen did either!).

The Cheese Pie with Laffa Dough is a simple dish with a very bready crust and a gooey cheese filling of Feta & Graviera cheeses with a nice spicy Smoked Chili Honey drizzled on top. It has a slight punch as some chilis are on top, but was a tad too much bread for me. Tops were the Roasted Carrots with Walnut Pesto, Smoked Creamed Manouri Cheese, Puffed Quinoa & Carrot and a Ginger Vinaigrette; this dish is a vegetarian delight indeed.

The Icelandic Cod with Beets, Black Garlic, Almonds and Potato Cream was a huge hit with our friend who left a totally clean. Will and I decided to split an order of the yummy Crispy Potatoes with Tzatziki, Feta Cream and Wild Greek Oregano as well as each have a plate of Lamb Kofte Kebab (we could have shared it as well as the two kebabs on each mezze were a huge portion and we ended up taking two home) which come with Pickled Onions and a Spicy Roasted Tomato Relish. Our red wine was a superb Agiorgitiko Halkia from Nemea (a female winemaker) in the Peloponnese. 

One small complaint would be the very dim lighting in the very nice rest rooms, but that aside, Melina is a place we would head back to again for sure.

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