Who thought onions were a good idea?
Since my buddy wanted to eat something healthy (foolish, I know), we thought we would try out some Mediterranean food nearby. Since I’ve already hit up a few of the local places, we looked to Yelp to find something new and discovered a place called Mezza Grill in Culver City. We sat down inside and were greeted by a mildly friendly waitress with bells hanging by her waist that must have some Mediterranean significance. But considering she was blond and likely of some sort of Germanic or Scandinavian descent, the bell thingies came off as somewhat gimmicky. Oh well, gimmick or not, I was ready to eat.
The menu was of typical Mediterranean fare and prices for platters of schwarma and such ran about 12-14 bucks. This wasn’t too out of the ordinary, but there was something missing. No sandwiches. I’ve never been to a Mediterranean place that didn’t at least offer or a doner or a wrap. Perhaps that sort of option exists for lunch, but I was kind of sad it wasn’t there for dinner. Instead, I just ordered the Chicken Schwarma platter. It came with a choice of hummus and then a choice between fatoush and tabouleh salad. Knowing that I wanted neither of those latter choices, I asked if I could get both spicy and regular hummus. The waitress said it was cool, but was quick to tell us that I was only getting that because the place wasn’t too crowded. Really, blonde waitress? Couldn’t just give it to me without a caveat? I guess I wouldn’t be too friendly if I had to walk around with bells all night either.
Don't expect to get two hummus choices on busy nights.
Before the platter arrived, we were given a little snack of pita chips and some sort of olive oil dip. It was quite tasty and a good lead-in to the real meal. The schwarma platter arrived and I was very upset to see onions laying upon the top of my chicken heap. What the hell is that? The menu had made no mention of the onions and I brushed them away disdainfully before getting down to the eating. The chicken had a great flavor, although a little mushy at times, and went really well with the garlic sauce. Both hummus flavors were surprisingly good and also tasted great with the chicken. I made myself mini-wraps with the toasted pita we were given, so it was kind of like eating a sandwich, but since I had to do all the work in making the sandwich, a bit of the fun was lost.
By the time I finished, I was stuffed beyond belief and slipped into a bit of a Mediterranean food coma. Mezza did a pretty good job of serving me dinner, but it still would have been nice to have had a sandwich option. After all, if you go there to eat healthy, you shouldn’t have to order a huge platter of dinner.
