Papa Cristo's Gourmet Greek and Mediterranean Food, Los Angeles

My wife and I visited Papa Cristo's (2771 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006) yesterday and found quite a few delights from Greece and other Mediterranean gourmet food products. This picture shows some of what we bought there. From left to right in the back row:

Amethystos 2006 - Dry white wine of Drama
La Espanola - Spanish Capers
Palirria Dolmades - Vine leaves stuffed with rice
Papa Cristos Greek Salad Dressing
La Espanola Clasicas - Olives stuffed with anchovies
Retsina Kourtaki - Retsina of Attica

Front Row:

Drunken Goat - Medium firm goat cheese made with wine
Prosciutto - Imported from Italy
Greek Salami

Papa Cristos is located in a neighborhood that is primarily Hispanic and offers a bit of the Mediterranean in the midst of all of the Hispanic markets and taquerias. The outside of the building is painted blue and white with Greek city scape murals. Inside is a gourmet market and a Greek Cafe.

We entered through the rear entrance into a small stock room and storage area, went past the kitchen, then went down a small flight of steps into the store. The store has many shelves full of pantry items like olives, olive and grape seed oils, capers, jams and jelly's, cherry and blackberry syrups, Greek honey, sardines and anchovies, dates, rice, roasted red peppers and all kinds of other treats. The long wall that separates the store from the dining room is full of Greek, Spanish, French, and other regional wines. There is a small hot food counter that had pre-cooked marinated lamb chops, spanikopita, tirropita, creatopita, Greek green beans, and other dishes you can take away with you.

The deli counter was smaller than I had hoped for but had a nice selection of charcuterie and cheeses from Greece and Italy. As with any good deli they offered to let me sample the products before deciding what to buy. I ended up with some Greek Salami and Italian Prosciutto, and a firm goat cheese called "Drunken Goat" which is soaked in red wine to give it a sweet, tangy flavor.

They also have a small desert counter with about 5 different varieties of baklava and other Greek treats. I bought a package that contains 4 varieties and had to sample it as soon as we got in the car. The piece of baklava I had was so full of nuts and honey, it was oozing out my mouth and down my chin. Yum, a little taste of heaven!!

The restaurant is nothing fancy. You order and pay for your food at a counter on one side of the store, and enjoy it in a large room full of tables and benches on the other side of the store. Unfortunately we did not have time to eat in the cafe but the menu was full of Greek delicacies and the plates I saw other people eating looked great. I'll definitely go back to try the food.

This visit to Papa Cristo's was the start of our Mediterranean tour of L.A. After we left there we went to the Getty Villa in Malibu to to view the fantastic Roman style villa and ancient artifacts from Greece and Italy. For dinner we headed down to Mediterraneo Restaurant and Bar in Hermosa Beach and had some fantastic Tapas and wine. All in all it was a great day and it's nice to know I can get a taste of the Mediterranean right hear in California.