In doing some routine maintenance on my blog this past week, I found that my post about Opa! Opa!, a Greek restaurant in East Sacramento, seemed to have disappeared. It had been awhile since my last visit, so I decided to go there for lunch with my son Zack and write a new blog article about it.
The menu items I wanted the most were appetizers, so I ordered two to share with Zack. The hummus at Opa! Opa! is excellent, consisting of pureed garbanzo beans, tahini (sesame seed paste), lemon juice, and garlic. When Sacramento Kings forward Omri Casspi first came to the U.S. from Israel, hummus was the food he missed the most, but he felt a little less deprived after trying the hummus at Opa! Opa! I like it too, so I order it, served with fluffy pita triangles, whenever I eat there.
The other appetizers I really like are the dolmathes, grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs. I enjoy them served cold, but you can order them hot for an extra charge. They come with tzatziki, a non-vegan dip with a yogurt base, so you may want to ask them to omit it from your order.
After all those appetizers, I didn't have room for much more food, so I got a half order of the orzo pasta salad, a hearty mixture of orzo, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, garlic, and fresh herbs, with a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice. It was a nice way to round out the meal.
Opa! Opa! is located at 5644 J Street, and their phone number is 916-451-4000. Their website address is http://www.eatatopa.com/, and their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/EatAtOpa. The restaurant is open Sunday through Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Planning to go there at the end of the month or start of July!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the dolmathes--my friend Charlotte Kalian's mom made them and we would eat them straight from the fridge after school. LOVE orzo but hard to stick to just a half serving!
ReplyDeleteReally, the hummus and the dolmathes were so good and so filling, June, that I wouldn't have needed the orzo salad at all.
ReplyDeleteJust curious, is Omri Casspi Vegan?
ReplyDeleteNot that I know of -- just a connoisseur of good hummus!
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