That’s what I’m thinking to myself as I circle around Pender and Howe looking for one of the three available parking meters in this slice of downtown. It’s a cool Sunday in October at the blue-haired hour of 5 p.m. and my destination is the modern Greek Estiatorio,Back in the heady days of 2019 when the editorial team here was kicking around what might be a good contender for our next monthly review column, a new Greek restaurant called Hydra was suggested.
Weirdly, I find street parking right away—it feels like a good sign? But it feels tense walking through the threshold again and, on my wife’s recommendation, I’m wearing a baseball hat to make sure no one recognizes me, just like Ben Affleck in. We approached the main floor reception desk and ask if they have room for two. The hostess speaks to her headsets nods and then asks us our name.
Going over the food menu makes one feel like Lloyd Christmas doling out C-notes in Aspen. In addition to the oysters, the small plates—all variations from the main menu— are all $12. I order almost everything on the happy hour menu, including six of the local oysters and six of the east coast, lamb ketftedes , the kalamari and a trio of lamb sliders.The wine comes out almost immediately in proper glassware from Puddifoot and pours that looks to be generous six ounces.
If I weren’t so thrifty I’d dive in, but dammit, I’m here for happy hour, so my wife and I dive back into the $6 pool—I have the bubbles—which is the completely acceptable Jean Louis from France. It’s served in a coupe, which I normally hate, but in here it feels festive. My wife, hems and haws over the red, a Santa Rita cab from Chile, and our server, unprompted, dashes off and retrieves a taster—for a $6 glass of wine.