The Transporter

Kanella flies you all the way to Cyprus.

by Elisa Ludwig

Shirley Nicole Fonner TARTING LINE: Bathed in thyme syrup and served with preserved cherries, Kanella's lemon mousse is as divine as dessert gets. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

There's a lot to be said for a restaurant that is able to whisk you away from a Center City corner to a breezy Mediterranean idyll by dint of a few well-placed pillows.

At Kanella, a charming Cypriot boite at 10th and Spruce, the exposed brick walls conspire with wooden farm tables, whitewashed walls and a bare stone floor to evoke the atmosphere of a harbor-front taverna where the water sparkles and fresh-caught fish flap from the lines strung outside. Never mind that the only sparkling and flapping around here is coming from the tequila drinkers at Azul across the street.

Kanella is a fresh, fantastic addition to the local BYO lineup. For one thing, there's no other kitchen serving this food — the cuisine of Cyprus is an unmistakable amalgam of Greek and Turkish influences augmented by notes from France, Italy, Lebanon and elsewhere — in the region. Chef/owner Konstantinos Pitsillides has created a well-edited menu that makes his native cuisine accessible without dumbing down its distinct flavors. Even more notable is the cooking itself, which eschews fancy innovations for authenticity and simplicity. It's honest, good food. If there's a gimmick here, it's that what you see is what you get.

For a new restaurant, the service is especially assured, the server warmly welcoming guests and offering house beverages like fresh mint iced tea and hand-squeezed lemonade, then tahini spread, smooth and garlicky, with crusty slices of seeded home-baked bread. If you're lucky you might run into Pitsillides himself, who comes out of the kitchen now and again to monitor the proceedings or suggest a new dessert addition. (If it's the lemon yogurt mousse, go for it.)

The kitchen starts strong with a hot slab of grill-branded halloumi cheese, milky and rubbery in the best possible way, paired with a cool chopped village salad of tomato, peppers and parsley. Octopus salad, chewy bits of cephalopod tossed with red wine vinegar, capers and red onion, tastes even better sopped up with the heavy slice of grilled bread arrayed on top.

Bureki, a large golden phyllo envelope stuffed with feta cheese, is drizzled with thyme honey and comes to the table with a mini wooden honey dripper. The inedible garnish seems like an indulgence — do they recycle these? — but the pastry is one of those ingeniously salty-sweet combinations that could be excellent at breakfast, lunch or dessert.

There are enough vegetarian options here to feed two vegetarian guests (no repeats) at your table. A hollowed red pepper encasing chopped olives, feta, tomatoes and threads of mint gets an added protein boost with a side of earthy moutzentra (lentils cooked with rice) layered over yogurt. The single pepper is on the small side for a $17 entrée, but the overall effect is elemental and fresh, the best sort of veggie meal.

But as a nation, Cyprus is better known for its pork. A classic Cypriot dish, pork tenderloin pan-fried in red wine and spotted with coriander seed, arrives in perfectly cooked medallions with simple sides of fresh peas and sage-roasted potato. Whole pan-fried quail, served feet up, may be delicateness incarnate, its tiny drumsticks heat-bronzed and crisp-skinned, but the plate is made more satisfying by whole baby eggplants roasted into velvety infinity, thin-sliced potatoes layered with rosemary and smoky pasturma, or air-dried pastrami.

Not every dish at Kanella is spot-on. In a classic Medi combination, heads-on, shell-on shrimp are baked with oregano-laced tomatoes and melting bits of briny feta. Here, though, the flat-plate presentation causes the watery sauce to pool around three beady-eyed shrimp while a decorative fluff of microgreens sags into the soggy morass. A gratin dish would contain the spillage and make the dish more visually appetizing.

A peasant salad of husky chunks of roasted beet tossed with scallion and yogurt is mild and uncomplicated, though the dressing might benefit from some acid tang to offset the beets' dull sweetness.

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Yet because the overall impression is so pleasant, these complaints register as inconsequential slip-ups, not major stumbling blocks.

Should any doubts linger, they are dispelled by the final course. Kanella builds on the repertoire of Greek and Turkish sweets (custards, baklava) with flavorful desserts coupled with divine homemade ice cream. The above-mentioned light and creamy lemon yogurt mousse is bathed in grassy thyme syrup while preserved cherries crown the side of the plate.

A chocolate mousse is paired with a subtly fragrant scoop of lavender ice cream. A buttery tart of almond paste studded with soft nuggets of dried date absorbs the melty runoff of kanella ice cream. And siamali, a semolina cake soaking in orange syrup, is dressed with a thick dollop of tangy yogurt and another sprinkling of the namesake spice. This is the point at which you'll want to order a Greek coffee and prolong the meal — you'll be in no rush to leave this island.

(e_ludwig@citypaper.net)

Kanella, 266 S. 10th St., 215-922-1773

Hours: Tue.-Thu., 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5:30-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5:30-10:30 p.m.; Sun., 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; closed Mon.

Appetizers, $7-$9; Entrées, $17-$26

BYOB

Reservations recommended

Wheelchair accessible