The chtapodi sharas, grilled octopus on rocket salad with balsamic olive oil dressing at Elitis, a Greek restaurant in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Chrissy Yates/Stars and Stripes)
I didn’t set foot in Greece until last year, but recently I tried to take a trip back through the food at Elitis restaurant in the German city of Kaiserslautern.
My first visit was on a Friday evening in August, three weeks before a trip to Crete with friends. When I returned recently, I brought two of those same friends along.
The appetizers we ordered were vegetarian and meat-stuffed grape leaves, grilled octopus and grilled plums wrapped in bacon. For our mains, we chose fried calamari and pan-fried pork gyros with onions and mushrooms in a cream sauce.
The clear winner on both visits was the plum appetizer, known as damaskina gemista. The salty, crisp bacon balanced beautifully with the sweetness of the plums and the creamy cheese inside. “It is the best thing here,” one friend said.
Clockwise from left, tzatziki yogurt sauce sits in a bowl with a spiralized cucumber on top; meat-filled stuffed grape leaves are covered in a white sauce; four slices of pita bread are topped with bits of garlic; and damaskina gemista, an appetizer consisting of plums filled with cream cheese wrapped in bacon and grilled. (Chrissy Yates/Stars and Stripes)
Although I enjoy seafood, rubbery overcooked mollusks ruin the meal for me. I have to give Elitis credit here, because the grilled octopus and fried calamari were excellent and expertly prepared.
After cutting into an octopus tentacle, my friend said the “little sucker bits are charred nicely.” The mixed greens underneath were a bit heavily dressed, but the flavorful balsamic dressing made up for it. Which is good, as it’s the most expensive appetizer on the menu at 23 euros.
I enjoyed the firm, chewy texture and delicate crunch of the calamari. It stayed crispy even after being dipped in a bit of the tzatziki sauce. I packed a few pieces in my to-go box, and the Mediterranean seasoning made them delicious even when they were cold.
When we were in Crete, I insisted on eating stuffed grape leaves, or dolmades, at least once a day, and we even ate canned ones from a local grocer as part of a light lunch after a day by the pool.
The damaskina gemista, or plums filled with cream cheese wrapped in bacon and grilled, are shown in a close-up at Elitis, a Greek eatery in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Chrissy Yates/Stars and Stripes)
Sadly, the stuffed grape leaves at Elitis paled in comparison. The meat-filled ones had too much meat and not enough rice, resulting in a taste and texture like a meatball.
My friends thought they tasted great, though, so perhaps my expectations were too high. I also thought the grape leaf wrapping was too thick and a bit hard to chew through, and the meat separated from the wrapper when I went to cut one in half. Worse, they were drenched in a citrus cream sauce that fought the seasoned meat-and-rice filling for flavor dominance.
The vegetarian dolmades were much better, almost as good as the canned ones we ate in Greece. The leaf wrapper was soft, the filling herby, lemony and creamy. The sauce was wisely served on the side. One downside with both versions was finding tough, inedible stem bits in a few of the rolls.
Four slices of pita bread are topped with bits of garlic, and meat-filled stuffed grape leaves are covered in a white sauce at Elitis Greek Dining Project in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Chrissy Yates/Stars and Stripes)
The other entree we ordered was listed under the menu heading “tiganakia,” translated as “pan dishes,” and this one was a gyro with pork in a creamy mushroom-and-onion sauce. I found the gyro in my dish to be a bit dry, so having it in the cream sauce made it tastier.
“I am a sauce person, so I always prefer sauce over the dry one,” said one of my friends.
I tried a portion, and she might’ve introduced me to my new favorite way to eat gyro meat at Elitis. The dish had a homemade style that reminded me a bit of my Southern grandma’s mushroom chicken smothered in onion gravy.
The tzatziki sour at Elitis in Kaiserslautern, Germany, contains an unaged brandy called tsipouro as its base with lactic acid, cucumber juice, garlic, dill, malic acid, lemon and sugar. The drink is part of a collaboration with a nearby cocktail bar called Highballs. (Chrissy Yates/Stars and Stripes)
I really enjoyed my beverage, too. The tzatziki sour ingredients were lemon, garlic, dill and cucumber juice, and the mixture tasted fresh and citrusy.
Unfortunately, the meal ended on a sour note for me. The tap-to-pay card reader can’t process metal cards. I had never encountered that before, and the server asked whether I had my card on my phone.
No, I don’t, because my bank won’t verify my new card while I’m overseas.
“Why don’t you have a better payment system?” I thought with annoyance as I struggled to remember my debit card PIN and lost out on precious credit card points that could eventually add up to another trip to Greece.
The faihs grill, left, at Elitis consists of fried calamari and pork gyros with a side of tzatziki, while the gyros tiganaki, upper right, has pork in a mushroom-and-onion cream sauce. (Chrissy Yates/Stars and Stripes)
As for the atmosphere, the music is definitely not Greek, one friend quipped, as Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” played in the background.
It was also a bit dark on one side of the restaurant, but since it was a quiet night, we chose the well-lit side so my pictures would turn out a bit better.
That said, I do plan to return to Elitis, perhaps to try the waiter’s recommendation of the pork medallions with mustard sheep cheese filling and another drink.
Vegetarian dolmades, or herbed rice stuffed grape leaves, next to a portion of light cream sauce at Elitis Greek restaurant in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Chrissy Yates/Stars and Stripes)
Elitis
Address: Schillerplatz 3-5, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Hours: Sunday, noon-10 p.m.; Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 5-11 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays.
Prices: Main dishes range from 20 to 30 euros, appetizers from 8 to 23 euros.
Information: instagram.com/elitis_kaiserslautern
