Panos' Char House

I’ve never had any desire to eat at Panos’ Char House. In my mind it is Greek. Enough said. I’ve never been tempted by gyros. Okay, okay. So I’ve been wrong before. I’d eat my words, but I’m too full.

The Man Who Pays For The Food I Review took me out tonight for our first actual, kitchen-under-demolition meal. Actually, the kitchen will be demolished tomorrow, it turns out, but I have no kettles, no plates, nothing left on which to cook and no electricity with which to cook it. The Man Who Keeps Track Of All Things Including The Order Of These Reviews said Panos’ was next on my list. I kind of dressed up – put on slightly less scruffy sandals and combed my hair, as I figured Panos’ looks more upscale than KFC. And it is. But the clientele is not. Jeans and t-shirts rule. As for al fresco dining, there is a patio, whose location is suitable only for automobile enthusiasts, though there is a Panos person somewhere who knows something of garden design. Able to ignore the beautiful flowers but not the humidity, we ate inside.

The wine list is neither extensive nor expensive. There are nine red wines available by the glass or bottle, none of them over $30 per bottle. I ordered a glass of B.V. pinot noir ($7). It was drinkable, though not interesting in any way. As we were eating I looked around at what the other patrons were drinking. Hmmm... Mostly beer. I checked the beer list. There are 12 beers on tap, including that yummy Spotted Cow, and there are oodles of bottled beers offered.

So I learned something: When everyone else is drinking beer, don’t order wine.

Okay, moving on to the food. The menu is large and quite varied. There is a section of Greek food, but most of the menu would fit the Char House motif. Speaking of motif, the decor is definitely US western. Huge hand-painted murals of canyonlands cover the walls. It has the look of a place in which you’d expect to find great grilled steaks. But did we order those? Of course not. Even The Man Who Darned Near Always Orders Beef ordered a chicken stir fry ($11.95). I decided to do the “When in Rome” thing – or rather Athens – so I had a Greek salad ($3.25) and spanakopita (spinach and feta filling in phyllo dough) ($11.95). And, surprise! Everything was delicious! My Greek salad was loaded with feta cheese and kalamata olives (not those disgusting black rubber-tasting things from a can) and peppers and red onions on Romaine and came with a very nice home-made dressing, a balsamic vinaigrette with chunks of feta cheese in it. (You will soon figure out that if it comes with cheese, it’s sure to please me.) The Man’s meal came with chicken dumpling soup. It too was wonderful, a large portion with delicious home-made dumplings in a chicken stock that had never seen the inside of a can. Our waitress, Terri, assured us that all of Panos’ food is prepared on the premises. Somehow I doubt that will be the case in many of our Bluemound Road establishments.

On to the main course. First, the size is prodigious. I do not consider volume as a criteria of value when it comes to restaurant food, but Panos’ surely offers that. The Male Appetite I Was With ate perhaps a third of his serving of chicken stir fry, and not because it wasn’t incredibly good. It consisted of large pieces of chicken, pea pods, water chestnuts, lots of other vegetables, all in a teriyaki sauce. My perfectly browned and crispy spanakopita could also have fed three more people.

Terri could see that we were bulging at the seams, but cheerfully asked to show us the dessert tray. What a selection of yummy-looking treats! Several cheesecakes, a number of chocolate gooey things, a tempting home-made carrot cake. Perhaps next time...

I cannot even say a negative word about the ladies room. It was spacious and sparkling clean and attractive, with pastel decorative tile walls and floor, granite sinks and – is it possible? – waste baskets that were not overflowing!

I will go to Panos again. Perhaps just for dessert and coffee. Or maybe for beer and an appetizer.

With no electicity, you can call me...
Kitchenless in Brookfield

PS: We hadn’t planned meals of leftovers. I’m going to try to freeze them all until I am with kitchen again. Otherwise all this perfectly good food would go to waste. And my mother would be appalled.