Greek Week or Maybe Weak

Passport Stamps | Greece

Friday night, food trucks, family, Greek food and music, what’s not to like? Lines. Lines are what’s not to like. Fortunately the other stuff made up for it.

It was that time of the month again at the Columbia County amphitheater for Food Truck Friday. I met my sister, brother-in-law and nephew there, all looking forward to some good food. The theme was theoretically Greek food. That was kind of thin since they only had one food vendor offering Greek food and another pizza. If you wanted deserts you had two trucks and a couple of tents to hook you up. The line for the Greek truck, The Mad Greek, was very long so we decided to find a seat and listen to the band, Pure Indigo, and hope it calmed down a bit.

We grabbed beverages prior to our seeking spots in the amphitheater. For my first drink I went with a local Savanah River Brewing beer called, No Jacket Required. It was a decent pilsner that went down easy on a warm evening.

After 45-60 minutes of chatting and listening to the music the line hadn’t noticeably eased up so we decided to bite the bullet and join the queue.

A quick aside. The conversations now are much different than 20 years ago. At one point my brother-in-law and I were enthusiastically discussing our favorite Great Courses and how Einstein’s theories can be tough to wrap your head around. Very different.

Anyway we spent a long time in line to place our orders and then another fairly long time waiting. I was number 91 and as I stepped into the crowd of waiters number 64 was called. The main benefit of all this waiting was I got to spend a lot of time with the family. Finally my number was call and I got my order of a Greek Dog and Spanakopita.

I almost hate to admit it but they were worth the wait. The Greek Dog was a pretty simple concoction of a grilled beef frank topped with olive tapenade and crumbled feta. It was a delicious but very salty combo. I like tapenade quite a bit so it was great topping for me. The spanakopita was outstanding. The pastry was flaky and crisp on the outside and the spinach and feta filling was perfectly balanced. The reports on the Greek potatoes and dolmathes were that they were also outstanding. We were hoping they had a brick and mortar location locally but turns out they are out of Marietta. I don’t think I’d drive that far but if I see them again I’ll be in the line to try some of their other fare.

Another good evening.

It’s all Greek to me

Greece

This week’s culinary passport trip was to Greece as represented by Akropolis Kafe in Ballantyne.  It’s a small place in a little square with several other restaurants and bars.  You order at the counter and they bring it to you so it’s not a fancy joint.  On the day I went they were having the opposite problem their mother country was in that they were lacking employees rather than jobs.  They had a big help wanted sign on the door.  When I walked in there was just one man in the place and he looked harried.  He took my order while mentioning he didn’t know where his help disappeared to.  As he was ringing me up she showed up and finished the transaction while he went to the kitchen to get things started on my meal.

The décor didn’t scream Greece but there were a couple of paintings on the wall intended to evoke that Greekish feel.

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I ordered the Gyro & Shishkabob plate which came with a salad and fries.  The baklava was sitting there taunting me so I had to get a piece to eat for vengeance.  I had a choice between the pork or chicken and got the pork which came out nice as you can see below.

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The shishkabob was tender and had been thoroughly marinated so the flavor was in every bite.  The gyro meat was ok and once you threw it in the pita with some tzatziki sauce you had something going.  I don’t really know why fries are included except as a filler and I didn’t bother to eat a one.  So now I’m going to say something that I can barely believe I’m putting to words but I was most disappointed in the salad.  It wasn’t bad but the lone olive, tomato slice and cucumber slice made it feel like some kind of weird orphan vegetable salad.  There was enough tzatziki to dress the salad so didn’t even try the provided dressing.  The baklava was quite good and very cinnamony.  I will say my sister & brother-in-law team up to make one that’s better but I could be biased.

Overall the place wasn’t bad.  In spite of any employee issue the staff present was very friendly and the food was solid if not exceptional.  I’d go back if I was in the area but wouldn’t make a special trip.

You can check out their web site by clicking their name above and don’t forget to check out Tell Me More for a tzatziki recipe, music and more.