Sneak Peek: TRU Wine Bar’s New Shareable ‘Meze’ Menu

Tru Astoria on Ditmars Ave spent the past five years as a European cafe, with locals sipping coffee throughout the day and typical food choices like Greek salads and pizzas. But now the team is completely revamping their atmosphere and menu, focusing on their Greek roots with fresh ingredients, “family-style dining” and historic wines.

Serving Meze—the Greek equivalent to “small plates”—guests will now be able to explore different flavors in a familial and affordable way. Sharing plates provides the perfect environment for both “large and small groups to taste many dishes inspired by both traditional and contemporary Greek and Mediterranean cuisines,” they said. Beginning today 3/29, the Meze menu is available from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Friday-Saturday.

Chef Nuno Sousa, formerly the Executive Chef at the Upper East Side’s Vella Wine Bar & Kitchen, helped create over 30 different menu items across all categories including seafood, meats, vegetables and cheese. “We wanted it to be homey, but sophisticated—it is New York City,” Sousa said.

When previewing the menu this week, we started off with cold dips first (all served with delightfully warm pita): the classic tzatziki ($8), hummus ($8) and their special tirokafteri ($8), a spicy whipped feta that was equally unique and delicious. For hot plates we enjoyed:

• Lamb Kotsi ($28): fantastic stewed lamb on the bone, slowly cooked in tomatoes and herbs for five to six hours, that could literally be eaten with a spoon
• Soutzoukakia ($11): classic Greek meatballs in tomato sauce
• Bakaliaro ($12): fresh melt-in-your-mouth grilled cod over hummus and red peppers
• Shrimp Santorini ($16): flavorful shrimp cooked in a fresh tomato sauce, topped with feta and served in a sizzling skillet

Just to get more of an idea, other menu items include: Greek rigani fries—hand cut fries with garlic oil, oregano and feta ($8)—grilled halloumi ($10), moussaka pot pie ($16) and souvlaki ($12). General Manager Constantine Mouzakitis, who has been leading the new revitalization of the restaurant, says they want to “stay focused on classics, and then work our way out. We like the heartier dishes to blend with the lighter, herbier dishes.” He recommends 2-3 meze per person.

Another part of the restaurant’s “evolution” includes an all-Greek wine list that features many natural, organic and biodynamic wines. The list celebrates indigenous Greek grapes and some of the oldest wine regions in the world. They have 60 choices now, which will double by next week.

And the cocktail menu, which currently features drinks like a Pisco Sour (Peruvian brandy, lemon juice, egg white and bitters) and the Scarlet Spritz (strawberry infused aperol, Lillet Blanc, and rhubarb bitters) focuses on “using fresh ingredients both local and imported from Greece” and will rotate out per season.

They also have some great deals in the works: 1/2 price wine bottle Wednesdays, “meze hour” (their version of happy hour) with $4 plates and drinks from 4-7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Monday industry nights.

Even if you’ve walked by Tru without a second look before, we highly recommend checking out their new menu. The flavors are outstanding, and sitting around the table all sharing food and eating together is the best way to do it, no?

35-19 Ditmars Blvd, Astoria

3 Comments

Name April 6th, 2019

THank you!

Reply

Name April 4th, 2019

Strangely it looks like their website is hacked- any way we can get a screenshot of the new menu?

Reply

Claire Leaden April 4th, 2019

Thanks for the heads-up, they said they will post on their Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/TruAstoria/.

Reply