Another Greek Cafe

I have momentarily forgotten the name of this little Greek Cafe near in Fullerton (SE LA), but its a quiet little place, with great healthy food. I choose a pasta salad combo, the pasta was a simple white sauce, chicken pasta with bread crumbs and cheese on top, while the salad was a traditional ceasar salad.

I'll keep this post short as I have to catch a flight today. I have one place left in LA I want to post about, then I'll be posting about a couple places in NYC.

New Food Opolis

At the suggestion of a close family friend I went to Zoës Kitchen, a trendy new Mediterranean dinner. I ordered the grilled chicken pita sandwich and chose the pasta salad to accompany it.

This place is good. The ingredients are fresh and the food tastes like something you should eat while enjoying the sun and overlooking the Mediterranean from a high Greek balcony. I am also a huge fan of Mediterranean food. A good point this family friend brought up, is that they have wonderful vegetarian options. I could gladly have a vegan meal off of Mediterranean foods (though eating feta cheese would be extremely tempting).

QA QELATE KATI NA FATE?

So it was the birthday of one of our good family friends last weekend, and we went to a spirited Greek restaurant called Olive Oil. I got a simple gyro plate, but one of my friends got the sampler, which contains a little bit of everything. It was more photogenic in this case...

I will comment on the gyro meat, which is what I got, and I will say that it was good, not terrific but good. The hummus appetizer was also good, but a bit dry for my taste, the pita bread however was amazing. The restaurant also has a little show on Saturday's, which consisted of some traditional Greek dancing, and a bellydancer (who happened to be an old high school colleague). If you like music and dance with your a good hearty Greek dish, this place has got it all.

Esfihas!

I learned from one of my best college friends that there are more Lebanese in Brazil then Lebanon itself (Brazil also host the second largest Japanese and African populations, outdone by Japan and Nigeria respectively). I was surprised to find out that several foods also migrated and blended into Brazilian society so succinctly that Brazilians consider it their own. Among these is the esfiha...

These are closed esfihas, think of mini pies. The filling is usually seasoned meat, cheese, or vegetable. The open esfihas look like mini pizzas, but with the filling as the toppings. If you have never tried this originally Mediterranean treat, you should.

Cold Cut

Sandwiches are great! So easy and fast to prepare, you can have one out in under 5 minutes, and I am not talking about Subway. These homemade sandwiches are way better!

Take this for examples

Pita bread, italian dry salami, havarti cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and some delicatessen mustard (I use Boar's Head). Toasted in a mini-oven for about 2.5 minutes. Quick, easy and delicious!

There is a Fish in My Oven!

Ok, I feel like this picture needs to get shown before I say anything.

Baked salmon seasoned with some herbs, salt, olive oil, and a few onion slices. To compliment the salmon we have a hefty serving of tabbouleh and some pan seared frozen potatoes with veggies.

If you need a quick meal, then fish is your meat of choice. Pan seared will take a maximum of 30 minutes to prepare. I like to have a salad to go with it, maybe some left over veggies.
Healthy, fast, and delicious. Doesn't get much better then that!