Skara Taverna opens in Williston Park

Dino Philippou had had his eye on 75 Hillside Ave. since The Butcher’s Bar & Grill closed in 2020. "It was right around the corner from where we live, and my wife and I used to go often," he recalled. After the Greek-inflected steakhouse shuttered during the pandemic, "there were rumors that they were going to reopen, but nothing materialized. Last year I got a phone call that the space was available and I jumped."

What attracted Philippou was not just the short commute but the fact that the kitchen had a charcoal grill. "I’m from Cyprus, where we love cooking our meat over charcoal. There’s nothing like it," he said.

He and his wife, Sia, signed the lease and promptly named their restaurant Skara Taverna: Skara means "grill" in Greek.

Philippou was the general manager of Plori when it opened in Carle Place and, before that, had operated Astoria’s Greek restaurant-nightclub Cavo for almost two decades. To run Skara’s kitchen he recruited Gregory Zapantis, currently a chef-partner at Sea Bar in Great Neck, opening chef at now-closed Americana Eatery & Bar in Great Neck and a veteran of the Manhattan restaurants Estiatorio Milos, Trata, Kellari and Thalassa.

Noting that most of Long Island’s ambitious Greek restaurants specialize in fish, the two created a menu that doubles down on meat. From the charcoal grill come dry-aged skirt steak ($29), strip ($44), cowboy rib-eye for two ($72), pork chop ($34) and lamb chops ($39). But then they tripled down on meat, installing a rotisserie for large-format roasts that are sold by the pound: chicken ($16), pork shoulder ($22), suckling pig ($34) and lamb ($37). For the best selection of these rotisserie meats, dine Thursday to Sunday.

Of course there is grilled branzino and salmon, vegetable moussaka and that new Greek classic, lobster pappardelle. Mains range from $24 to $44. Among the starters are grilled loukaniko and Cypriot sheftalia sausages, baked gigantes beans, wagyu meatballs, spanakopita, saganaki flambé, tzatziki and tarama spreads, horiatiki (letttuce-less Greek) and marouli (romaine) salads. Starters range from $12 to $23.

There’s also an attractive $12 weekday special that you can enjoy either for lunch or, from 3 to 6 p.m., at the bar: A freshly made gyro wrap filled with one of the spit-roasted meats.

With its dark upholstery, white plaster walls, pickled wood floor and ceiling and wicker accents, Skara’s dining room successfully suggests a Greek taverna. The place gets major points for its optimal vestibule situation: The storefront already has one, but Philippou thoughtfully added a belt to those suspenders with what I like to call an "instabule" (a temporary anteroom made of transparent, wind-resistant plastic). No matter what’s happening outside on Hillside Avenue, it’s cozy inside Skara.

Skara Taverna, 75 Hillside Ave. , 516-386-9686, skarataverna.com.