On Arsenal Street, you can find most any kind of cuisine at the multitude of fast-food chain restaurants up and down the thoroughfare.
I finally made it to two eateries on Arsenal that were around long before the chains discovered Watertown: Apollo Restaurant, serving up some classic Greek specialties, and St. Anthony's Catholic Church, where on the third Thursday of every month you can get some of the best spaghetti and meatballs around.
APOLLO RESTAURANT
1283 ARSENAL ST.
788-3569
The Apollo is tucked away in Price Chopper Plaza. It's been around for a long time, serving up Greek-American food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
If you don't think you'll like souvlaki, mousaka or a gyro platter, you can order a cheeseburger, a BLT or a Reuben.
We were there for lunch, and we were there for the Greek stuff.
Here's a tip: order the Greek sampler platter ($9.95) and you've got it all covered — gyros (seasoned ground beef and lamb), souvlaki (marinated and grilled chicken and beef), stuffed grape leaves, hummus and pita bread and a generous dollop of tzatziki (garlicky yogurt) sauce.
It was generally tasty and almost authentic, except for the grape leaves — too much rice and too little meat, disappointingly bland and canned-tasting.
Homemade soup of the day ($2.55) was chicken vegetable. The broth was weak and the vegetables were previously frozen.
Perhaps there should have been a little more truth in advertising with the saganaki: flaming goat cheese with lemon cognac ($5.95). It did arrive flaming, but we could have sworn it was feta, not goat cheese.
The menu says they flame it with cognac. Our waitress said they flame it with "some kind of rum." She also admitted it was feta and not goat cheese "but feta comes from goats," so I guess they were just stretching the truth a little.
Even though we got to try the souvlaki on the sampler platter, we ordered a "Greekwich" of beef souvlaki ($6.95). The marinated, charbroiled beef came stuffed in a pita with lettuce, tomato, onion, feta and olive oil dressing.
The "big fat Greek burger" ($6.95) was a juicy generously-sized half pound of beef. It came out medium-rare, as ordered, topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, feta and a little mayo.
Under "Favorites from the Old Country" we sampled the chicken souvlaki platter ($11.95). Again, the chicken was identical to that on the sampler, served over rice. Everything in this category comes with Greek salad or salad bar.
We got the Greek salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomato, feta, Kalamata olives), which was OK, but seemed lacking in the herb department. Usually there's a noticeable amount of oregano in the dressing or sprinkled on the salad.
Considering it was lunch, we probably over-ordered, leaving no room for dessert.
Forty-seven dollars later, three of us had experienced ethnic cuisine from the only Greek restaurant in the area. Actually, you could call it a decent family restaurant with a little ethnic sideshow.
The Apollo opens each day at 11 a.m., serving until 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The breakfast portion of the menu is available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
We understand breakfast is done in good diner style
ST. ANTHONY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH
850 ARSENAL ST.
782-1190
The busiest day of the week at St. Anthony's is usually Sunday, except for the third Thursday of every month from 4 to 7 p.m.
That's when the Altar-Rosary Society puts on its spaghetti supper in Monsignor Sechi Hall in the lower level of the church. The society has been preparing suppers continuously at the church since the 1930s.
Mary Misercola heads up the volunteer kitchen crew that makes hundreds of meatballs and gallons of sauce for days prior to the event.
I didn't want to sit at one of the long tables in the hall alone, so I invited my friend Nicky to join me and bring along some friends. Frankie and Vito, two experts in Italian cookery, filled out our foursome.
Frankie makes some fantastic sausage at his home in Watertown. Vito is from northern New Jersey, where he claims to be the king of sausage.
We arrived at 5:30 and Nicky was a little worried that we might not find seats together. They usually serve 200 to 300 spaghetti dinners at the monthly supper and social event in the large meeting room.
Not only is the dinner cooked with care by the church ladies, they serve it sit-down style from start to finish.
Beverages came first, including regular or diet soft drinks. Salads quickly followed, a nice mix of lettuce and veggies with a zesty Italian dressing. Bread and butter (Alteri Bakery bread, they said) was placed on the table.
Nicky's a regular at the dinner. If regulars pester Mary enough, she'll bring out some of her husband Joe's hot peppers, grown in their garden.
Out came the dish of hot peppers. I tried a small one and it was way too hot for me. Nicky, Frankie and Vito downed them like they were M&Ms.
The main course arrived next — a huge plate (on china, not paper) of spaghetti drenched with bright red homemade tomato sauce and crowned with homemade meatballs.
I didn't think I'd be able to finish mine, but I knew sending anything less than a clean plate back to the kitchen would be grounds for immediate excommunication.
"The boys" finished before me. I wouldn't have thought it possible with all the meeting and greeting they were doing as friends entered and left the room. You would have thought they were running for mayor.
The Rev. Donald Robinson, extending his priestly duties to waiter and busser this particular night, stopped by to make sure we had enough to eat. He told us this has been a major fundraiser for the church over the years. The church serves the dinners 10 months out of the year, taking the summer months off.
Dinner for four at St. Anthony's cost $27.
You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.
