Delicious, Well-Kept Secret: Cascade's Greek Offerings

Restaurant review

Cascade Restaurant, 13428 Highway 99 S., Everett. 745-1590. All major credit cards, personal checks accepted. Smoking allowed. Take-out available. Hours: 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday; 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sundays. -------------------------------------------------------------------

EVERETT - If you're searching for great Greek food, look no further than the Cascade Restaurant, an unassuming-looking cafe tucked away among the businesses that clutter Highway 99 between Lynnwood and Everett.

Other than a small-print mention in the telephone book, there is no way to know that the restaurant even features Greek cuisine. The restaurant's name certainly offers no clue and the lighted sign out front doesn't include a word about it, choosing instead to focus on the restaurant's adjoining lounge and the free country dancing.

Inside, the Cascade is a regular cafe-style restaurant with a dozen or so booths lining the walls and a few bar stools pulled up to a counter. It's not until you open the menu that you discover the list of Greek dishes reserved especially for those with a kali orexi (good appetite).

The cuisine, a mix of mainland Greece and Greek Island influences, comes compliments of Jimmy Markezinis, a mainland Greece native, and his wife Carrie, whose parents came to the U.S. from the Greek Islands.

According to son Ted Markezinis, who now runs Cascade with his brother Mike, Jimmy arrived in the U.S. with only $5 in his pocket. He traveled throughout the states before settling in Seattle, where he worked his way up in the restaurant business.

He eventually opened his own Greek/American restaurant in downtown Seattle and operated several of them there before deciding he wanted to move out of the city. In addition to Cascade, he now owns the Jimmy's Pizza and Pasta restaurants in the North End.

The list of tempting Greek standbys offered at Cascade include dolmathes (stuffed grapevine leaves, $5.95), keftethes (spiced meatballs served on rice pilaf, $4.95) and mousaka (a delicious casserole made with eggplant, ground beef and potatoes, $5.95).

Those who are unfamiliar with Greek cuisine might want to go for the Athenian or Mediterranean plates, each of which offer a sampling of three or four of the entries. Another excellent option is the chicken breast tiganito, which goes for $7.95. The dish consists of large strips of chicken combined with noodles, Feta cheese, green peppers and fresh mushrooms all sauteed in a wine sauce and served in portions so generous it easily feeds two. Fish oreganato (fresh fish broiled with butter-lemon sauce and oregano, $5.95) is also featured on the menu. All entrees come with a generous serving of Greek salad loaded with Greek olives and Feta.

The Cascade menu actually features a full selection of American dishes as well. A variety of steaks, seafood, and poultry dishes are available, as well as numerous burger and sandwich selections. Barbecue beef ribs, veal cutlet, baby beef liver and onions and corned beef and cabbage are just a sampling of what's available. A breakfast menu is also offered.

The dual nationality menu carries over to dessert, which includes homemade pies and Baklava, a tasty Greek pastry filled with honey, almonds and walnuts. The hot green apple pie with cinnamon sauce is hard to beat.