Kin at Kefi – NYC

According to Gus, the proud, lovable patriarch of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, “There are two kinds of people. Those who are Greek and those who wish they were Greek.” And thanks to this movie’s portrayal, it’s hard not to wish you were Greek, if only just to be a part of this boisterous but generous, meddling but embracing, scolding but accepting, nagging but loving family unit.

Kefi very much embodies the setting of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The two full floors of buzzing tables replicates the feel of a full family but is quiet enough to not make you feel like it’s assaulting your ears.

My dinner started like every meal with a Greek family:

 “Are you hungry?”

“Oh no, I just ate.”

“Ok, I make you something…Eat! Eat!”

So Eat! the Selection of Spreads, a vegetarian nirvana good enough to make me forget meat. The Tzatziki was cool as a cucumber, the Taramosalata was grainy with spice, the Melintzanosalata says “screw you” to Babaganoush, and the Revithia puts hummus to shame.

Vegetarian apps are awesome, but when it comes to the entrée, there’s bound to be a little friction. “He don’t eat no meat?! Is ok, is ok, I make LAMB.” Thanks for the Sheep’s Milk Dumplings with rich lamb sausage, Aunt Voula. You really are the best cook in the family.

The Tubular Pasta with savory Greek sausage, light veggies, and fresh feta was the flavor of the Mediterranean. “Give me any word in English and I’ll tell you the root of that word in Greek.” Give me any delicious food in the world and I’ll tell you its origin in the Mediterranean.

I was getting a little overloaded with all the movie references conjured by this meal so I started looking for a main dish that captured an important aspect of myself instead. The Flat Pasta did just that. The pulled braised rabbit in this dish must have multiplied like bunnies because I think there was more rabbit than pasta. I just considered it a gift and ate it. They say to beware of Greeks bearing gifts, but I’d never look a gift horse in the mouth.

When people ask us where we come from, well, we come from our families. My family is Chinese. I am Chinese by birth and American by culture. A no-longer-rare combination of eastern tradition and western innovation, I’d like to think I at least turned out marginally better than Americanized Chinese food. Few people are prouder of my heritage than me, but Kefi made me want to ditch it all to be Greek.