An Albuquerque
tradition serving the Duke City for more than 35 years, this charming
old world Greek steakhouse replete with tuck and roll oversized leather booths is noted for personalized service and the best
antipasto in town. You might go there for the steak, but you'll
fall in love with the antipasto combination plate, the restaurant's star
attraction.
By definition if not
function, antipasto is meant to pique one's appetite, not satiate it;
however, at the Townhouse, the antipasto plate is an oversized appetizer
for two or a gargantuan meal with for one.
It's got a bit of
everything and then some: stuffed grape leaves, Kalamata olives,
Pepperonici, feta cheese, Kasseri cheese (a sharp, salty and hard cheese
with a Cheddar-like texture made from sheep or goat's milk), ham,
salami, garlic dip, pita bread, and taramosalata.
If you've never
had taramasalata, you're in for a treat. It's a Greek style caviar
traditionally served as an appetizer. Consisting of carp roe,
breadcrumbs soaked in milk, olive oil and more, it is whipped until
light and fluffy. It's wonderful on its own or spread onto the
restaurant's signature pita bread.
Not everything at the
Townhouse approaches the antipasto's quality. Almost everything
else we've had has been a disappointment after the antipasto, but some
of that might be attributable to being almost full after consuming it.
The lamb kabobs are a bit gamy, even for lamb. The seafood
combination (cod fillet, shrimp, and scallops) was better than passable,
but would have been much better with a cocktail sauce that wasn't
anemic. The prime rib was a tough cut literally and figuratively.
Worse of all were the lamb shanks which were drowning in tomato sauce.
