Depending on how one defines “island,”  Greece has anywhere between 1,200 and 6,000 of them dotting the Aegean and Ionian seas. Of the 200 or so that are inhabited, many have been settled for thousands of years. That’s countless generations of cultural cross-pollination, of recipes shared across the flames of open hearths. Stella’s Greek Cuisine, at the northeast intersection of Swift and Proctor, is a living, breathing continuation of this rich history. Owned and operated by Stella and Pietro Raphelli, this humble Greek isle in central Sarasota boasts dishes whose recipes predate even the great-grandmother who passed them down to chef Stella.

Authenticity reigns, save for the horiatiki (Greek salad), to which chef Stella begrudgingly added Romaine lettuce. “You won’t see a salad with lettuce in it when you’re in Greece,” she says, “but enough people asked for it that I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do this one little thing.’ But that’s it!” The salad comes with tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives, green bell peppers, sliced radishes and a heavy slice of Greek-imported feta cheese. The feta is more rich and buttery than domestically sourced product, bolstering an otherwise bright, healthy salad made with organic produce when possible—and hand picked by chef Stella always.

Where the avgolemono soup at many Greek eateries comes thick and pasty like rice pudding, here its broth is more clear and light. Chef Stella does this by adding the egg at just the right temperature and refusing to add thickeners like corn starch. The result is an impossibly lemony, deliciously light soup whose broth seems equally at home with chicken and rice as it would in a tea mug with a dash of honey.

The spanakopitakia (mini spinach pies) also highlights her commitment to fresh ingredients. Rather than frozen spinach, the fresh spinach gives this savory pastry a more earthy flavor, while the aforementioned Greek-imported feta makes it creamier than the more chalky spinach pies of other Mediterranean establishments. Notable spreads include the taramosalata, a briny cured cod and caviar spread, and the potato spread, a garlicky triumph.

That chef Stella’s great-grandmother hailed from Constantinople (now Istanbul) becomes apparent in the entrees, where aromatics take center stage. An arni kotsi (lamb shank) glows with coriander and cumin, accenting the tender bone-in hunk of meat. Meanwhile, the savory red sauce atop the soutzoukakia smyrneika (meatballs) pairs nicely with its side of saffron and turmeric rice. 

But the mousakas politikos takes the aromatic cake. Long before the layers of eggplant, potatoes, ground beef and bechamel reach a diner’s mouth, the smell of nutmeg, clove and cinnamon reach the nose. It is beyond rich, beyond decadent, beyond filling. The generous portion of Old World ambrosia is baked to order but is well worth the wait and well-sized for at least two people to eat. If chef Stella is a student of tradition, that’s not to say she’s immune to a bit of improvisation. Stella’s ouzo shrimp is a difficult dish to classify. The orange juice gives it a tang akin to some Southeast Asian curries, but there the ouzo, which is a traditional Greek anise-flavored aperitif,  gives it something similar to a scampi. It’s exciting, fresh, light and bright. At the end of a meal at Stella’s, if the proprietors seem willing to regale you with their encyclopedic knowledge of European history, order a cup or two of Greek coffee. It’s sweet and thick and lovingly spiced—and will deepen the illusion that you’re in a dining room somewhere off the coast of Greece.