Every week on Wednesday, I receive an e-mail with discount rates for things to do in the area. This week I lucked out and stumbled across really cheap tickets to go see Joel McHale (one of my favorite comedians!). The event was over two hours from our house, so we invited our newly married friends for a double date night. We chose the event, so they chose the place to eat; and they were craving Greek!

The restaurant of choice was Niko’s Trapezi located in Long Branch, New Jersey.  This place can be summed up in one word: “fantastic.” My only “disappointment” was the place is BYOB. The flip side was, after I looked over the menu, I quickly walked two doors down to the state store and picked out a bottle of wine to bring back to our date.

The liquor store wine fridge had a limited number of bottles in the fridge, and unfortunately many of them were quite expensive. I chose a Barefoot Pinot Grigio, mostly because it was really inexpensive (only $7.48 with tax and on sale!) and a great selection considering I didn’t know what my double daters ordered for their meal. Described on the website, this wine is,

“tart green apple flavors get down with a white peach undertone. Floral blossoms and citrus aromas do the tango. Light-bodied with a bright finish.”

Pinot Grigio with Dolmades and olives.

I ordered the Gyro Piato, gyro strips served over a greek salad with pita, tzatziki sauce and rice, but our table started with  Dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs) and bread smothered in butter with oil. The Pinot Grigio paired perfectly with these dishes. It was smooth and crisp. When I paired it with my dinner, the wine had more of a spicy taste than the clean crisp I tasted without the food.

Gyro Piato with a greek salad, pita, tzatziki sauce, and rice.

I ended up not drinking my wine with my main dinner course. When I finished my main course, I finished my glass of wine. This was a great palette cleanser before dessert (which, by the way, was Baklava, and extremely delicious).

Not every meal will pair perfectly with every wine. The suggested food pairings with this wine is poultry, pizza, and pasta, though I really enjoyed just sipping it without food. It’s a very summery wine, which happen to be some of my favorites. But really, at $7.48 a bottle, you can’t go wrong with this as your BYOB.