By the Gastronomes

If you haven’t had the pleasure of dining at this Alexandria icon, you are missing out. Located at 1225 Powhatan Street in the north end of Alexandria in the former Dixie Pig location (the neon sign still remains), Vaso Volioti opened Vaso’s Kitchen in this space in 2006. She opened another location at 1118 King Street (former Bistro Lafayette) in 2013 called Vaso’s Mediterranean Bistro. While both restaurants serve excellent Greek and Italian fare, the Kitchen is the more casual of the two and everyone really makes you feel like you are dining in a Greek family’s home. Vaso’s has been a favorite of ours since they opened and we were amazed at how long it had been since we’ve dined there. It was during the pandemic when we all had to be six feet apart! In any case, it felt good to be back there on a fairly quiet week night.

Unfortunately, Vaso had left the restaurant before we arrived but we were entertained by her son-in-law Stratos and we exchanged some fun stories about our girl. Vaso comes from a traditional Greek family and both her sister and niece are in the restaurant business in Alexandria as well. Denise and her husband Chris are the proprietors of the popular Taverna Cretekou at 818 King Street and her niece Maria and husband George own and operate another Alexandria icon – RT’s Restaurant located at 3804 Mount Vernon Avenue. When you listen to their stories, you can imagine their family being much like the crazy family in the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” movies. I can imagine how fun it would be to be invited to a family party. Vaso is a force of nature unto herself and brings her cooking style and fashion flair to the restaurant every day except Sunday and that’s just because they are closed. In any case, when you frequent one of their establishments they make you feel like you are being welcomed into their homes.

Vaso’s Kitchen has always had a reputation of quality food with fresh ingredients. I can add that her prices are very reasonable as well. Although the restaurant specializes in Greek and Italian cuisine, they also offer other items as well. Daily special appetizers feature Mushrooms Stuffed with Crabmeat, Oysters Rockefeller, Artichoke Fiorentina and a Halloumi Sandwich all for only $18.

Other specials feature Branzini, an interesting sounding Chicken Tropical Special and a Soft Shell Crab Special that we are guessing is available when they are in season. Prices range from $28 to $42. They offer seven different appetizers all for $15. Their most popular soup is Avgolemono, a traditional Greek soup with chicken, egg, lemon and rice. There are seven salads including a Gyro Salad. They also offer subs and pita sandwiches along with her very popular pizzas.

Their main courses feature some Vaso Classic dishes like Charbroiled Bifteki, Baked Moussaka, Chicken Classic Greek Platter, Two-Meat Classic Greek Platter and Eggplant Parmigiana. There are four Chicken entrees ranging from Chicken Margarita, Parmigiana, ala Francese to Grilled Chicken Kebab. There are two Lamb choices and seven seafood dishes. There is also a children’s menu for the little ones in the family.

We were greeted with some good bread slices and olive oil for dipping that we ate while deciding what kind of wine we were going to order. After picking a bottle of white wine from Greece with the help of our server – the name of it escapes us but it was very good and complimented both of our entrees -we placed our order. We started out with a cup of the traditional Avgolemono soup and an order of Spanakopita to split. Both were excellent.

On to the entrée’s…I ordered one of the Vaso Specialties – the Charbroiled Bifteki mentioned above and my dining companion opted for one of the seafood specialties – Filet of Flounder stuffed with Crabmeat. The Bifteki consists of two ground sirloin patties seasoned with special Greek herb mix, cooked over a charcoal flame and served on a bed of tomatoes and sprinkled with feta cheese. This was a very good meal as the patties were charred just right and the meat was light and very tasty. The tomatoes were plump and very fresh and the wine topped it all off. The flounder filet is stuffed with crabmeat, baked in the oven then flash-baked in a lemon butter white wine sauce with capers. This entrée comes with a side of vegetables or pasta. She chose the pasta and in retrospect, while the pasta was very good, the vegetables would have complimented the flounder much better. The portion was very generous and fit the bill.

We rounded out our meal with an order of baklava and a shot of Ouzo to share while we visited some more with Stratos.

Vaso’s Kitchen is open Monday through Saturday from 11 am to 9 pm, has a full bar with a nice selection of wines and beers and also features indoor and outdoor patio dining as well as offering full catering service.

Treat yourself to some local Greek hospitality in this “Little piece of Greece”.

Vaso’s Kitchen

1225 Powhatan Street

Alexandria

703-548-2747

Vasos-kitchen.com