Yanni’s Mediterranean Grill & Opa Bar

Yanni’s Mediterranean Grill & Opa Bar Restaurant Review:

What started out as a humble gyros joint for cash-strapped UNM students has matured into a spacious, airy blue-and-white restaurant with a sprawling menu of Greek staples and more broadly Mediterranean faves. Sure, there’s saganaki, moussaka, souvlaki, dolmades and pastitsio. But you’ll also find lesser-known treats like baked feta (feta psiti) and kotopoulo (chicken baked with garlic and oregano); meanwhile, a select array of pizzas and grilled chops is better than it needs to be, as is textbook galaktobourekos for dessert. Better still, however, are rotating specials like fried smelts, and brunch is a kick, if not particularly Hellenic in character --- we’re talking french toast topped with crumbled baklava. The people-watching is tip-top too, as the dining room boasts front-row seating for the human parade up and down the Nob Hill stretch of Central Avenue --- especially when the otherwise enclosed patio is opened on warm summer evenings to let the breezes flow. Yanni's is also home to Opa!, the watering hole for many of the city's off-duty media personalities; though the bar itself hasn’t quite yet entered the twenty-first century, it’s finally getting there --- and we’d just as soon sample the selection of Greek wines in any case.