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Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. and holidays 1-1 p.m.
Good choices: Maria's sampler, baked clams, calamari as appetizers; veal and eggplant parmigiana, chicken and mussels Despina, lamb a la Toula, swordfish Diane, lamb en brochette, pizza, tiramisu.
Credit cards: All major credit cards
Access: Fully accessible.
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MARIA'S
240 Quincy Ave.
East Braintree
(781) 843-3730
Restaurant reviewed 03/04/99 by Bella English, Globe Correspondent
At first glance, it looks like a typical Italian trattoria. You've got your clumps of plastic grapes hanging from the ceiling; ditto for the Chianti bottles. You've got your colorful murals of Venezia and Roma on the walls. You've got your naked statues of gods and goddesses. You've even got a friendly waitress - she happens to be Italian, too - steering you confidently toward certain dishes.
But Maria's is more than just veal parmigiana and pasta. The two Greek brothers - more on them later - who run the place offer unusual Mediterranean specials, including chicken and mussels Despina ($8.95) and lamb a la Toula ($9.95), named for family members.
This attractive, homey restaurant - at 53 years old, one of the oldest in the suburbs south of Boston - was born and raised Italian. Then Arthur Kyranis bought it in 1979, installed himself in the kitchen and his brother Vasilios out front. The Italian dishes stayed, but were joined by some Greek cousins, including lamb en brochette (a.k.a. shish kabob, $10.95) and Aegean shrimp ($12.95), jumbo baked shrimp stuffed with feta cheese. The result is a winning find just over the Quincy line in Braintree. Maria's is on a busy commercial stretch, but once you step inside, you'll find a relaxed atmosphere, attentive service, and an appealing menu. A small bar greets you as you walk in.
Many places reap obscene profits from their wine lists. At Maria's, you can get a very decent Dunnewood cabernet for $12.95 a bottle. By the glass, you'll pay $2.75 to $3.95; a Kendall-Jackson chardonnay goes for $3.25.
But you can't drink without food. Our favorite appetizers included garlic bread topped with mozzarella cheese ($1.95), baked clams a la Maria ($4.50), and Maria's sampler ($5.95). The last included potato skins, which were light and crispy, not leaden and soggy as often happens; fried mozzarella sticks, crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside; stuffed mushrooms with a tender dab of crabmeat; and baked clams, the highlight of the heaping dish. "We use real clams, not those chopped, canned little clam things," our waitress boasted. And they were nestled in herbed breadcrumbs, moist but not soaked in oil.
Already full at this point, we sacrificed ourselves for a higher cause - eating - and ordered entrees. The swordfish Diane ($10.95) was the choice of the health-conscious in our party. A hefty piece of flaky fish with a hint of lemon, it came covered with fresh steamed vegetables such as pea pods, zucchini, onions, and tomatoes, and served on a bed of linguine. The hearty eater in the crowd ordered the veal saltimbocca ($12.95), an oversized yet tender cut of meat layered with prosciutto and melted cheese and drizzled with a mushroom and white wine sauce. Pork marsala ($8.95) was a tasty variation on an old theme, with thicker chunks of pork substituting for the usual flattened veal or chicken.
Our traditionalist ordered her beloved veal and eggplant parmigiana ($10.95) and was the only one of us who polished off her entire meal. (The rest of us left with doggy bags and the next day's dinner.)
All dinners come with a side order of pasta topped with thick meat sauce - not the anemic canned stuff usually poured on top - and either a house or Greek salad.
On to the Greek menu, added by the Kyranis brothers, who came to the United States in the 1960s to escape political persecution in a disputed region on the Albanian-Greek border. After they arrived in Boston, the brothers found themselves washing dishes and busing tables at Anthony's Pier Four, despite their fluency in several languages. They learned the food business from the bottom up and then struck out on their own.
A highlight among the Greek specials was the chicken and mussels Despina, served with mushrooms and tomatoes over linguine with "sauce the way my mother used to make it" - that is, with lemon, wine, and capers - says Arthur Kyranis, who named the dish for Mom. The lamb a la Toula, in honor of his wife, was an aromatic portion of roasted lamb, studded with dill seed and topped with fresh vegetables in a garlicky marinara sauce. The various sauces - from verdicchio to scampi to marinara - are made fresh every morning and you may detect a kick of cayenne pepper, Arthur's favorite spice.
As the satisfied silence of busy eaters descended on the adult table, the kids nearby were busy chowing down on pizza (a large cheese with crisp homemade crust and sauce is $5.25), fried haddock with fries ($4.95), and spaghetti with meat sauce ($3.50).
If you have any room left, the dessert offerings include cannoli, tiramisu, and cheesecake with strawberries (all $3.25); and, for the purist, plain old ice cream (a heaping bowl for $1.50).
Here's a cheaper-than-cheap eats tip for you: for lunch, Maria's offers much the same menu at half the cost. Epicurus would be smiling.
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