It’s coming up on St. Valentine’s Day, so let us speak of love, and how splendid a thing it is! Now, don’t misunderstand me; I’m not talking about that mushy infatuation between people, I’m talking about the real thing, the love that you have for your favorite restaurant. That’s true love, isn’t it, the indescribably warm and welcoming sensation you feel as you walk through the door to that special place?

What does the job for you? Is it an Italian trattoria, full of luscious pasta; an elegant French restaurant, showy and sophisticated; or a solid burger joint, quick, clever and easy? For me, it’s Mavros Gatos: the girl or boy next door, as it were. I’ve been coming to this taverna for almost forty years, and while time has changed both of us, it’s still the place I want to eat at more often than any other. Which is a good thing since, by my reckoning, I’ve had more than two hundred meals there.

My wife and I started eating at Mavros Gatos in the mid-1980s, even before Giorgos Kolezois took it over in 1991, but from then on it was the food and the friendliness of Giorgos and his wife Panagiota that made the place so special. It was under their watch that our young son darted from table to table to visit with his favorite regulars, elderly widowers wholly unskilled in cooking who’d found Panagiota’s tasty food a solace and a solution. No one seemed to mind a kid running around; it was, first and foremost, a family spot, a cornerstone of the community, and feeling so at home in this eatery helped me feel more at home in what still was my new-ish life in Greece.

Fast-forward a few decades and it’s still my special place, even with the changes that time inevitably brings. In 2011, Giorgos turned the reins over to his daughter Vasiliki and her husband Giannis Manthos, and they’ve a great job of making it theirs without erasing the warm charm that had always been its hallmark.

The dining space was made yet more attractive by a series of subtle design upgrades that didn’t erase any of the charm that was already there. Quality bottled wines joined the excellent barreled options that had sold so well in the past. A glass-walled wine room was added, too, and an impressive meat display case now stands by the entrance, catching the eyes of all those who come through the door.

Still, these shiny new arrivals can’t compete for attention with the historic playful wall paintings by the artist Michail Papageorgiou that gave the taverna its name more than half a century ago – Mavros Gatos means “Black Cat,” and Papageorgiou’s murals, rumored to have been done in exchange for food and drink, mostly feature an insouciantly elegant feline of that color.

Just as the wine room is proof of a greater attention to top-quality wines, the meat display case signals a stronger commitment to the grill. Today’s Mavros Gatos, long famed for the unrivaled excellence of its lamb chops, has recently become known for other exceptional cuts of meat as well. The grilled veal and beef steaks are outstanding, and the caul-wrapped liver is tender, juicy perfection on your fork. The rest of the menu is of the same high standard; this is classic Greek cooking at its very best.

Prices have always been more than reasonable, and they remain so, but nowadays to benefit from them you’ll need reservations, even mid-week. It’s the cost of success, I suppose, although when I asked Giannis recently if he felt tempted to call it a restaurant now that it had printed menus, a waiting list and long-stemmed wine glasses, he shook his head and said “No, for us it’s still a family taverna.”

I know what he means, because my feelings for the place haven’t changed at all, either. After all, love, like the Dude, abides.