Agrovim Highlights Iliada at Nerai NYC

Greek food definitely rates at one of my favorites, so when I was invited to join Agrovim – Greece’s leading olive oil producer – at NYC’s Nerai for an exclusive Greek dining experience, I was naturally pretty excited! Agrovim, who recently released their Iliada line of olive oils hails from Kalamata Greece where locals are such big fans of the oil that it’s even used in spas!

Nerai, located over on East 54th is known for offering a contemporary twist of classic Greek cuisine. I was excited to meet Agrovim reps as well as celebrity partner Billy Zane (Titanic, anyone?), who regaled us with the tale of how their partnership came to be. After doing a tasting of their exciting line of flavor infused oils we sat down to dinner highlighting Agrovims extra virgin olive oil.

Appetizers featured Grilled Octopus, Chips Nerai, Carpaccio, and Greek Salad – which were all in Greek style, capitalizing on simple but flavorful ingredients. My favorite was the Carpaccio – the yogurt foam and squid ink really did it for me.

For the main course we were given the option of Halibut a la Polenta, Marinated Chicken Souvlaki, and Shrimp Santorini all prepared with Iliada olive oil. I opted for the Shrimp Santorini – which was ridiculously good, I loved it!

For dessert we were treated to Loukoumades – home-made doughnuts, honey syrup, and candied walnuts; Saragli – hand-rolled baklava with almonds and pistachio; and Portokalopita – a sponge-filo cake with orange syrup. They were all decadent and a perfect end to a lovely evening.

I’ve already started to experiment with Agrovim’s Iliada oils (look out for that update!) and can’t wait to return to Nerai. For a complete listing of Agrovim & Iliada olive oils, check them out at Agrovim.com!