It is a very rare occasion in which I make a meal out of fries. It is even more rare that this happens at a Greek restaurant. Yet, when Pitta Souvli in Chandler offered up a special called Chipotle Gorgonzola Cheese Gyro Fries, I couldn’t resist. There was just one problem: nowhere in the description of the fries were tomatoes mentioned. And yet, as you can tell by the picture to the left, there were obviously tomatoes involved.

Fortunately, the tomatoes were all piled on top and they don’t leave too much of a residue, so when I removed them I could eat in peace.

And what peace it was. These fries were freaking delicious. I mean, it’s hard to go wrong with combining the delicious slices of gyros with spicy chipotle pepper flavor, a couple of cheeses and a base of fries. Moreover, these fries were so loaded that I was physically incapable of finishing them all.

Pitta Souvli knew exactly what to do with these fries, but it’s probably important to recognize that they aren’t a part of the regular menu and were a special on this day. Hopefully after reading such a glowing review, Pitta Souvli will realize these fries need to be a part of the regular menu, albeit without those goddamn tomatoes.

I grew up spoiled when it came to Greek food. I mean, Detroit even has a Greektown and I’m not sure you can say the same for any other city anywhere. Recently, though, I found myself picking up some Greek food from Saba’s Mediterranean Kitchen in Phoenix and and was intrigued not just by the classic stuff, but by the unique twists I found there.

It was the Spicy Buffalo Pita that really sold me, though. I opted to fill the pita with gyros for my meat, which also included feta cheese and house made buffalo sauce. Perhaps most importantly it included nothing else – as in no veggies. I also got the Spicy Feta Fries on the side, which were like the sandwich, but with fries instead.

The result was everything it needed to be. The gyros themselves were delicious, tasting like pretty much all other gyros, but also nice and juicy. Most importantly, the buffalo sauce and feta added a delicious dimension that I had never previously eaten with gyros before. It was spicy, but also flavorful. And then there was the feta to cool things off and bring the pita back down to earth.

The same went for the fries which, again, were just the exact same feta and buffalo sauce from the pita, but on fries. There’s not much more to be said for them aside from, well, there is no such thing as too much buffalo and feta (obviously unless the food was doused in a way that would have made it all soggy).

I definitely want to get back to Saba’s to try something more along the traditional Hellenic route, but for now I can say I am quite happy with the results of combining the culinary delights of the forerunner of Western civilization and the Rust Belt.

Growing up in the Detroit area, it was pretty easy to take Greek food for granted. There is literally a Greektown in Detroit and Greek food can be found in every suburb. LA, however, is not so fortunate in this Mediterranean fare. Thus, I was pretty excited when I was invited out to the Good Greek Grill‘s new location in Hollywood for a free sampling of their food.

The first thing I noticed upon arrival was that there was a menu item called Meat Lovers. Usually such a thing is reserved for pizza, and at Good Greek Grill it could only be ordered as a platter. I was kind of hoping to get all the meats topping the Zeus Fries, but this wasn’t a bad alternative. The platter includes rice, Greek Salad, pita and choice between tzatziki or eggplant dip. I went the way of the tzatziki and swapped in some spicy feta fries in place of the Greek Salad, because, well, duh.

As for the meats, they were Pork on a Spit, Beef/Lamb Mix, Chicken Skewers and Pork Skewers. All were delicious and truly distinguishable from one another. The Beef/Lamb Mix was kind of like the gyros you expect, but packed with flavor and juiciness. I had never had Pork on a Spit like this from a Greek restaurant, but it’s essentially where the Mexican Al Pastor got the idea from. The chicken and pork skewers were beautifully seasoned a cooked perfectly. Good Greek Grill certainly knows what to do with their meats.

Better yet, the rice under the meats collected their juices and were all the better for it. The spicy feta fries were as good as I could have expected and the grilled pita went well with the tzatziki sauce (and it wasn’t overly cucumber-y).

Good Greek Grill isn’t exactly like the Greek spots I grew up going to, but the food is legitimately delicious. I can only hope that they open a spot in Pasadena next…

When my buddy recommended heading to a place called Mantee in Studio City, I was really excited to eat a sea cow and hoped the manatees were farm-raised (because we all know they are endangered in the wild). But he quickly corrected me, saying that the restaurant was lacking that all-important second “a” and was actually Mediterranean. And one look at the menu showed this was not your typical Mediterranean. There were no schwarma wraps to be seen here and instead items like that were replaced by unique Lebanese, Turkish and Armenian delights.

We decided to go big and started off with a nice round of appetizers. A couple had vegetables and I did not partake in such things, but the others were nothing short of delicious. The first was the Hummos Cocktail, which came topped with filet mignon and pine nuts. This was a great way to start things up and was quite tasty. It wasn’t too oily like some hummos can get, but was not at all dry and had great flavor. Plus, it never hurts to have meat on top. Next was the labne, which is a thick yogurt dip flavored with a little mint and olive oil. It is awesome with pita and while not as popular as hummos in general, it is definitely awesome.

The third appetizer I got into was simply called Mantee’s “Traditional.” Here’s where things got pretty interesting. This dish fell under the category of Hot Appetizers and consisted of oven-baked boat-shaped “ravioli” (really more like dumplings), filled with ground beef and topped with a garlic yogurt sauce and some sumac. I’ve got to say that this is a must-eat at Mantee. The dumplings were decadent and the garlic yogurt sauce struck a perfect balance of garlic and tart. This appetizer really had it all. I really could have made a meal out of this and the other appetizers and I would have left Mantee a happy man. Yet, I did not stop there, and I still left Mantee a happy man, just a more stuffed one.

I followed up the trio of appetizers with their Yogurt Kebab. I hadn’t seen a yogurt kebab anywhere since visiting Turkey nearly three years ago, so I was really happy to see it again. Until seeing it on the menu, I didn’t even realized I missed the thing, but I knew it had to be mine. And it was a wise choice. This kebab consisted of seasoned beef that had been removed from the stick and doused in that same delicious yogurt sauce as Mantee’s “Traditional.” In this case, though, the yogurt sauce not only held its own, but served to temper the strong seasoning of the meat. It was bliss on a plate and I was one happy unvegan.

So would I recommend Mantee? Oh hell yes. Just be sure you’re ready to spend a bit of money. It’s not overpriced and not really expensive for LA, but things can add up and you don’t want to miss out on their delicious offerings. I’m looking forward to returning one day for lunch and bringing any adventurous eater who wants something more than your typical Mediterranean fare.

On Friday night, I was lucky enough to be invited to an all-expenses-paid dinner courtesy of the Chulews. We headed to a place in a strange part of town that isn’t quite West Hollywood and isn’t quite Beverly Hills called Cayenne Cafe. Not to be confused with the pepper or vehicle, Cayenne was a sort of upscale Middle Eastern restaurant with a side of steakhouse. Being Passover, I was a little bit limited by the menu, because I couldn’t get anything with pita. Fortunately, there was that whole steakhouse thing going on and I could take advantage of that.

I went with their Steak Bearnaise ($20), which was a top sirloin steak with bearnaise sauce, garlic herb fries and something ridiculous called haricots verts. I asked the waitress what this was and she told me it was green beans  Seriously? Then call them freaking green beans. Stop trying to trick me with your French shenanigans! And speaking of shenanigans, my water came to me with a slice of cucumber in it  Who wants cucumber in their water? I’d rather drink from the LA River. Fortunately, the water hadn’t yet been poured in the glass and the cucumber was just sitting on the ice. I carefully removed this intruder and went on with my life.

Oh, back to the steak. Once learning that the haricots verts were green beans, I was ready to order without except that the girlfriend volunteered to eat them. Well at least they wouldn’t be going to waste. My medium rare top sirloin didn’t take too long to arrive and looked monstrous. This thing was cut like a filet, but however it was cut, I was excited to get involved with it. I started slicing away and each time I cut a piece off, I felt the need to cut it again because of the size. What I tasted was a perfectly cooked steak. It was nice and juicy, and although tougher than a filet, it still had great flavor. The bearnaise sauce went great with the steak because it had a very subtle taste that complemented the meat rather than overwhelmed it like some sauces are known to do.

The fries were a delicious side and almost had a fast-food-like crispiness to them. This may sound bad, but think about eating McDonald’s fries with garlic and herbs you’ll find you’re in a pretty happy place.

So Cayenne done me good. The cucumber and fancy words for green beans were a little bit frightening, but they were overcome by a tasty steak at a good price. The fries made a great side and if they can cut down on their green shenanigans they could really go far.

While wandering the Hermosa Pier in search for some sort of food to eat, the girlfriend and I discovered a place called Mediterraneo. It seemed like one of the few places on the pier that would be a better restaurant than a bar, so we decided to check it out. While the name implies Greek food, we were surprised to find that this wasn’t some simple gyro and pita place (although that wouldn’t necessarily have been a bad thing). Instead, we found that they were a tapas place that didn’t limit itself to the Spanish style. In addition to Spanish, there was also a nice Greek influence that could be found in menu items like hummus, beets and feta cheese.

I decided to start out with some hummus and pita as a warm-up, which turned out not to be the wisest decision. The hummus came out and looked like a scoop of ice cream, which was not a good sign. You see, I like my hummus to be creamy and the fact that this hummus retained that shape was a little frightening. Nonetheless, I gave it a go. As expected, it was way dry and just not very, but I still had a couple more plates to go.

My next tapa was called Patatas Bravas. These were fingerling tomatoes cooked in some spicy tomato sauce with paprika aioli. These things were really good and really well-seasoned. The potatoes were nice and soft and flavorful and the paprika flavoring was a nice addition to the mix.

My final dish was called Sobrasada. This was composed of cured pork sausage from Mallorca, Spain, toasted baguette, manchego and quince. I wasn’t entirely sure how this would look when it came, but when it arrived I saw that it was all already put together. It looked pretty awesome and tasted quite good too. The quince was really sweet and the manchego offered a nice balance to the sweetness. The only issue with it was that somewhere along the line, something got really oily. As a devout unvegan, I am no stranger to oil and have no problem with that juice, but the trouble here was that the oil seeped into the bread and created a bit of a sogfest. The delicious taste was all there, but there was something lost in the texture.

Although my dishes were pretty good, the girlfriend actually ended up getting something even better, called Bistec (just a fancy Spanish word for steak). This was some really juicy and flavorful thin-cut filet mignon. It didn’t have much seasoning, which was fine because it tasted just right as it was.

Mediterraneo surprised me in a few ways. First, it taught me that tapas didn’t need to be limited to Spanish food, but it also taught me that the Hermosa Pier actually has some good food. Sure, I like bar food, but this was a place to sit down and actually enjoy the pier without needing a beer in hand.

In North Hollywood there is a deli unlike any I had ever seen before. Rather than being filled with cold cuts, pastrami or Italian sandwiches, this deli has food with more of a Greek and Armenian flair. It is called Noosh Deli and although not the usual deli, I figured it had to be worth a try. Scanning the menu, I decided any Greek place had to have some good gyros, so I ordered their Beef Gyro Sandwich (with fries and a drink for 6.99). It came with lettuce, tomato, onion and yogurt sauce. I ordered without the veggies and waited 7 or 8 minutes until the sandwich was prepped and ready to go.

I opened up the bag and was immediately disappointed with what I found. No, there weren’t any vegetables, but there was still plenty of reason to be upset. In my pita I found not one, not two, but three whole strips of gyros. Is there a meat shortage somewhere? Even if I was inclined to eat vegetables I would have felt that the sandwich was lacking in protein, but without the veggies it looked even worse. Then I noticed that the other end of the sandwich was a whole lot heavier than the one I had opened up. Could there be meat hiding in there? No. Instead, what I found was enough yogurt sauce to cover a few sandwiches. The sauce easily outweighed the meat and also required use of a fry to be evenly distributed.

Despite the odd quantities, nothing would matter if these gyros were awesome. So were they? Sadly, the answer is no. The meat was strangely rubbery and relatively flavorless. The lack of flavor could be due to the amount of yogurt, but whatever it was, it was a sandwich not worth ordering again. The best part of the meal was definitely the fries. They were crinkly, crunchy and perfectly salted. I’d go back for the fries, but for meat I will definitely look elsewhere.

EDIT: This building got knocked way down, but you can find other Mezzas.

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.

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.

As a Jew who clearly doesn’t keep Kosher (see any entry on bacon, cheeseburgers or shellfish), I sometimes find it fun to eat a meal the way my Kosher brethren do. In LA this means a trip to Pico and Robertson, which my girlfriend affectionately calls “Little Israel,” although actual Israel can hardly be called “big.” Kosher restaurants either serve meat or dairy, so to take care of my unvegan needs, this Kosher pilgrimage took me to the meat-based Haifa Restaurant.

Haifa serves traditional Middle-Eastern foods like schwarma and kebabs, which is nice since you wouldn’t really want to put cheese or other dairy foods with them. I perused the pita sandwiches and decided the Fried Schnitzel sounded just delightful. When I ordered, I asked what came inside the sandwich and the waitress told me it was the schnitzel, hummus and salad. Actually, that was what came in all their sandwiches, so instead of choosing something different, I just ordered it without and hoped there would be enough schnitzel and hummus to fill the thing.

Before my sandwich came, the waitress brought out a bunch of different miniature side dishes. This was all good and well for the veggie munching crowd, but there wasn’t anything to offer for unvegans. Oh well, it was a little bonus that I hadn’t been expecting anyway and it kept the rest of the table happy. Suckers.

My pita sandwich came and looked perfect. Not a vegetable in sight. I chomped in and found it pretty enjoyable. The combination of breaded chicken with pita was a nice double dose of carbs that I always appreciate and the hummus helped keep it moist. If anything, this could have used a bit more hummus, but it was pretty good as is. The meat was actually pretty awesome and was definitely the quality I expect from Kosher meat. Of course, this came at the somewhat premium cost of $8.95. Yet, the premium wasn’t huge when you consider the cost of some sandwiches in LA that don’t even adhere to strict ethical and religious codes.

Joining the flashy and stylish trucks at the Haiti Fundraiser was an old-fashioned looking truck called Kabob Express. Fusion is a pretty big part of these trucks and Kabob Express has embraced that with their Mexi-Terranean fusion. Mexican and Mediterranean food is kind of a fusion match made in food heaven. Schwarma is awesome and that succulent meat can be thrown in pretty much anything to make it taste better. Kabob Express knew that and took advantage of it by offering schwarma in tacos and burritos. Hoping to save room for more food, I ordered myself a Mexi-Terranean taco.

This fused food came with chicken schwarma, hummus, cilantro, spicy tahini sauce, tomato and onion. I ordered it without those last two unvegan offenders and waited a minute for the taco. When it came, the thing was loaded up. It came with a fork shoved in it, which was nice, because the insides kept flowing out. It also came with some tzatziki sauce for some extra flavor if necessary. I started eating and realized that yes, this was some awesome fusion. It was kind of like a bite-sized chicken schwarma sandwich, but with a great little kick of sauce. Perfect for street-eating.

Only after finishing the taco and getting in line for the next truck did I realize that I had never paid for my taco. The thing was only $1.75 and all this was for a fundraiser, so as soon as I could, I headed back and paid up. The guy inside was certainly happy, and so was I, because it was certainly worth the money.