One of my intentions for this blog is to write food reviews. My goal is to seek out those rare gems and true bargains among restaurants. Those places where it's all about the food and not about the presentation: take-outs, self-service, fast-food joints, and diners. In essence, places with great food but no atmosphere.
I'd like to pursue this as a quest for the archtypal bargain restaurant. The problem is I'm pretty sure that I've already found it: Greek Deli on 19th Street Northwest between L and M.
I've been eating from Greek Deli for a few years now. Shortly after starting my current job four months ago I began raving about it to my coworkers. Finally, I convinced one of them to go with me. Now she is as hooked as I am. Today four of us headed over there, and brought back lunch for ourselves and one other.
We headed off from the office at noon down L toward 19th. Sure enough the line, as it is every day, was out the door and all the way to the street. The line moves quickly. The wait from the street is probably just fifteen minutes.
Greek Deli is strictly take out. It is a small and cramped place, tucked between Nooshi (formerly Oodles Noodles) and Nooshi take-out. There is just enough room inside for the line and people to pass by on their way out. The food has all been prepared ahead, except for the pita sandwhiches, and it is served to order into styrofoam containers. Once inside, you discover that the line moves quickly because Kosta, the owner and chef is barking "next, next" as he serves-up the orders. A member of his staff operates the cash register.
Back at the office we all dug-in. I'd ordered a Greek salad with lamb on top. If succulent ever described cooked meat, it describes the lamb from Greek Deli. The salad was fresh: lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and peppers topped with plenty of feta cheese. One of my colleagues had also ordered the salad and lamb: "the lamb juices and the salad dressing get mixed-up and it's all yummy."
The third in our group had ordered the lamb platter, which came with orzo, fava beans, a salad and bread. She had also ordered a side of hummous. She reported that everything was good, but what really seemed to make an impression on her was that hummous: "I've never had such good hummus. It had a lemony taste to it."
Another colleague had a chicken pita. The chicken, she said, tasted of olive oil and zatar spices. The complainer of the bunch, she said the chicken pieces were cut a little big and that there was lots of cilantro on the sandwhich. "Usually cilantro on any dish kills the dish for me."
The final member of our group had ordered the Moussaka platter. She said her lunch was "phenomenal." Like me she ate the whole thing. She "took the bread and sopped-up all the oil."
Greek Deli is located at 1120 19th St., NW in Washington, D.C. It is open for breakfast and lunch.
See also "Did you hear the one about the restaurant on the moon?"
2 comments:
Does the atmosphere of Greek Deli make it the Washington equivalent of Seinfeld's soup nazi restaurant? From your description it's same pew, different church.
I frequent the Greek Deli as well (I even went three times in one week once). I actually stumbled on this page looking for the phone number to find out what's the special today, as its a few blocks from my faragut square office. Anyway, several months ago I had the "Kosta Boli" which was a whole loaf of his bread hollowed out and filed with lamb and veggies. Does anyone know if its ever going to return, it was truely amazing! A good 3 pounds of food for $8 and change.
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