Greek Dining in Clayton Missouri

During our pre-Thanksgiving visit to St. Louis and Laurie’s extended family, her sister Bonnie and brother in law Bill, suggested that we try a new Greek restaurant where they’d dined recently.  We like Greek food and it’s hard to find in East Tennessee so we readily agreed… We were joined for dinner by a couple of Bill and Bonnie’s friends.

This is Katerina’s Greek Restaurant in Clayton Missouri.  Before its current iteration as a Greek restaurant, it was home to 2 former steakhouses and an entertainment/dining venue.  Originally it was the home of Morton’s Steakhouse, then Copia…another steakhouse…before it transitioned into Copia Lounge.  The latter featured food, live music and dancing.

The interior of Katerina’s is quite handsome…sleek and modern…with spots of color, and of course, there were Christmas decorations too.  Not that good Greek cuisine has to be served in a traditional setting but Katerina’s doesn’t have a Greek ‘feeling’ to it.  The former steakhouse décor seems prominently evident.

This view of the lighted wine cooler juxtaposed with the Christmas decorations and the well lite tree was an eye-catching sight!

When dining in a Greek restaurant…go Greek!  A couple of us enjoyed bottles of Mythos beer ($8.00) with Laurie in the background, whereas she enjoyed a glass of Boutari White Wine. ($10.00 – not pictured)

FYI, the Boutari Winery is located on the Greek island of Santorini.  Their first harvest was in 1989.  Mythos Brewery is the second largest Greek Brewery and it’s located in Thessaloniki and it opened in 1968. 

Dolmades was one choice for our shared appetizers. ($6.95) Dolmades are grape leaves stuffed with rice, spring onions, parsley, ground beef and aromatic herbs and served with tzatziki sauce.  This isn’t one of Laurie’s favorites but if they’re done right, they can be very tasty indeed.  I had one and it was easily one of the best dolmades I’ve ever had…

This appetizer is Kolokithakia…thinly sliced fried zucchini served with tzatziki. ($9.95) They were very good but the serving seemed a little sparse in comparison with the order of Dolmades.

Then of course we ‘had to’ order Saganaki…flash fried cheese flamed at the table. ($9.95) It was very tasty but the serving size seemed small.  Perhaps the price of cheese has gone up in the last couple of years since we’ve had this Greek treat.  That wedge is about half of what we were used to.

I was curious… What kind of cheese is used in saganaki?  It turns out that there is quite a variety used for this appetizer.  They include graviera, kefalograviera, halloumi, kasseri, kefalotyri or sheep’s milk feta cheese.  There are also regional variations in different parts of Greece.

Laurie and I love Tzatziki…Greek yogurt with cucumber, garlic and herbs, so we ordered more of it with pita bread…in addition to the quantities that came with the other appetizers. ($4.95) Although not as garlic laden as the tzatziki sauce that we’d become accustomed to when we lived in Chicago, this was the best we’ve had since moved to East Tennessee.  I hoarded what was left from all the other dishes of tzatziki for use with my entrée…

The first salad shown above is a small tavern salad that came with the entrees.  The second salad is a small Horiatiki (Village Salad) with tomatoes, feta cheese, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, onions and capers. (Small $6.95/Large $10.95)

Four cups of Greek Lemon or Avgolemono soup graced our table (no photo) and I ordered a bowl of it. ($4.95 cup/$6.95 bowl) Avgolemono soup is made with egg yolk and lemon juice and mixed with broth…usually adding rice or orzo to give it more substance.  I would guess that this soup is a lot like stew in that everyone has their own recipe.  From my viewpoint, the soup wasn’t lemony enough and it was too thin.  Everyone else seemed to enjoy it.    

Bill ordered the Arni Youvetsi…a lamb shank braised in wine tomato sauce and served over Greek Orzo. ($24.95) It looked great and after he gave me a bite of it, I can confirm that it was excellent!  I would order this entree on my next visit.

However, for my entrée I’d ordered the Kotopoulo…a chicken breast that was pan roasted and served with mixed vegetables and roasted potatoes. ($18.95) “My bad!” I’d assumed that this would be like the roasted lemon chicken with potatoes that I love and used to order regularly in Chicago.

Wrong… The chicken breast was dry and the potatoes really didn’t have any flavor.  Credit to the waiter and owner…who did have the kitchen prepare some lemon sauce for my benefit.  It helped a little and I did appreciate the effort.  The other issue I had was the price…a chicken breast, some potatoes and mixed vegetables for $18.95?

A couple of diners at our table went for the Garides Saganaki for their entrée. ($18.95) This generous order of large sautéed shrimp was served in a tomato sauce with feta cheese.  In this instance, the entrée was definitely worth the money!  I ‘had to’ help out and ‘was forced’ to consume a couple of these delicious shrimp.

Katrina’s is truly a family operation with family members Tracy and Crist Dubis spending decades in the business…cooking and serving patrons in some very fine area restaurants.  Crist Dubis’ mother is a fixture in the kitchen and the restaurant was named after their daughter Katrina, who died in an auto accident. 

Our waiter was new on the job and he stumbled a few times, bringing things out of order and forgetting items that were requested.  However, Crist (I’m assuming it was Crist) was very attentive and concerned that we were all happy with our dining experience.  Pricing seemed a little uneven.

Katerina’s Greek Restaurant is located at 7822 Bonhomme Avenue in St. Louis/Clayton Missouri.  Phone: 636-900-7991.  This restaurant’s website is at https://katerinastl.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave