The Fat Man’s family has grown in size recently, and no, not just because his waist has expanded.
Daughter No. 2 was born a few weeks ago in early May and the girlfriend’s mom has been in town offering her assistance and being immeasurably helpful.
While she wasn’t in town for Mothers’ Day, the girlfriend wanted to offer her mom our thanks by taking her out to eat last weekend when she returned to town.
Obviously fast food, or even a run-of-the-mill trip to Applebee’s—or a cuisine-equivalent Applebee’s (see here)—wasn’t going to cut it, so we pondered briefly on where best to take her.
We needed something good, but also something different. We opted to make the trek north up Ohio 7 and cross the river to Weirton yet again.
Slowly but surely, we’ve been crossing off the “to try” list in the greater Weirton area, and it was time to tick another option on that list.
This day called for a trip to Theo Yianni’s Greek Restaurant at 322 American Way, just off the Colliers exit from U.S. 22.
It’s a place I’ve been itching to try, so when the consensus fell upon Theo Yianni’s, I was happy to eagerly agree with the selection.
As stated previously, discovering and further exploring of the Greek portion of my heritage is a new venture for me. It’s what happily led me a few years ago to sample Yorgo’s across the river in Steubenville for the first of many satisfying trips.
But we’d yet to make the trek to Theo Yianni’s as I was saving it for a special occasion. I admit, I made the mistake of thinking the prices at Theo Yianni’s were high.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s no “dollar menu” dining here. But the prices were far better than I was expecting.
I will say this. I can’t say whether this is representative of Greek cuisine or not. My palette is still in its infancy experiencing all of these flavors. My experience has been limited to here, Yorgo’s, and a place near the Pleasant Hills section of Pittsburgh, similar to, but not as good as, Yorgo’s.
But after partaking in our meal, and the excellent accompanying service, Theo Yianni’s is a place I’ll happily eat at again whilst diving further into the menu.
The Food
While I’d never eaten here before, my girlfriend has on multiple occasions, explaining no visit was complete without an order of flaming saganaki—flaming cheese.
Being a self-professed pyromaniac, who am I to turn down a literal explosion of flavor tableside?
I’ll admit, the burst of flame as our server lit our cheese aflame whilst proclaiming “Opa!” was well worth the cost of the appetizer if it wasn’t tasty.
It was, however, quite tasty. I’d never tried that cheese combination before. I most certainly will again.
For our meals, the girlfriend opted for the Gyro platter and her mother ordered the cheese and broccoli pasta.
Still a newbie to Greek cuisine in general, I wanted to try multiple things and at first, I thought about ordering the Greek Appetizer platter. Looking back, I probably should have.
But knowing my taste buds, I didn’t want to order all that food and not eat it. So I opted for two items off the appetizer menu—Dolmathes and Tiropita.
The dolmathes, or grape leaves, are a mixture of ground beef, rice, lemon, and fresh herbs, wrapped up in a grape leaf. The serving came with four.
The tiropita was layers of dough stuffed with cheeses, a cheese pie if you will.
Now I am NOT a vegetable person. That Ancestry.com test also confirmed my taste buds are extremely sensitive to bitterness, so anything leafy and green, or green in general, is usually not in my wheelhouse.
But, for cultural exploration of the food variety, I decided to try it.
I ate the first one whole, I promise. I really liked the flavor of the filling, and, paired with the flavor of the grape leaves, it wasn’t bad. But, as I thought, the grape leaves themselves weren’t for me. That’s not a prep or food quality thing. It’s a me thing.
So, I unwrapped the other three which, I know, defeats the purpose. The filling was great. I then turned to the Tiropita which, surprise, surprise, had a great flavor. The pastry was light and fluffy and paired well with the cheese. That I will definitely order again.
The girlfriend needed a box to take her leftovers home, so I sampled the gyro meat before she shoved it in the box. The resulting flavor has me wondering if I want to try the gyro platter now upon my return. I was set on the souvlaki, but now there’s competition for my next choice off the menu.
There was no room at the inn remaining for dessert, but the menu did feature a couple of options worth exploring. Maybe next time.
A Further Bout of Appreciation
As an aside, I have to extend a thank you to the restaurant itself.
As said, this baby is baby No. 2. My other daughter was born in 2007 and my first go-around parenting was something made difficult with an infant.
Most restaurants, sit-down or fast food, didn’t come with the Koala-care stations in them in the men’s bathrooms.
So that meant a lot of impromptu changing on a mat I brought with me on the floor of the men’s restroom stall, or, asking one of the staff members to watch the women’s bathroom door while I went in to change the baby.
Every restaurant was always accommodating in those regards, but I hated having to bother people and would have preferred having that changing station in the men’s room.
Flash-forward to last weekend, no such problems at Theo Yianni’s. The men’s restroom did feature a changing station, so from myself, and from fathers everywhere, I say thank you for remembering us too.
