Trenton Restaurant Guide

I was born in 1954. It was a different world then. Families ate home more often than not, and going to a restaurant was reserved for holidays and special events. I grew up in a traditional Greek household where my mother would cook morning, noon, and night. I can remember many a time waking up at 7:00 a.m. only to find my mother cooking away because we were having company for dinner. However rather than cook the traditional foods of the time, she was cooking authentic Greek dishes. When a friend would stay for dinner I would beg my mother to please make some "normal food". We ate feta cheese when everyone else was having American and Swiss. We ate moussaka when meatloaf was more the norm. We ate Greek olives when everyone else was eating California olives out of a can. A friend of the family had olive trees in Greece and each year after the harvest he would bring us back this really green looking oil that tasted really strange. Today we call it Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Today people eat out more than ever before, and the Mediterranean diet is considered one of the healthiest in the world. The foods my mother served us back then are now mainstream today. Dare I say some of the foods my mother cooked might even be considered gourmet. Who knew? My mother would always use fresh ingredients never canned and frozen only if she couldn't find fresh. Today we would say she was cooking "healthy" but back then she was cooking the only way she knew how.

My mother is gone now but the memories will live forever. She was a wonderful cook who loved to entertain her friends and family all the time. My son and I hope that we can do here what my mother did in her home. Make you feel welcome, serve you great food, and have you always leave with a memorable experience. Because of all of these things we could not have thought of a better name for this restaurant than to simply name it after my mother - ERINI.