Opa Opa! Which apparently means a variety of different things in Greek. But nothing that would offend your grandmother so yell away! Unless of course you're yelling it your grandmother and she speaks German and then she'll just be confused. (Cause Opa is grandpa in German! Duh! Don't they teach you kids anything in school these days? Besides how to used those ipods of course. Conform! Conform!) OPA!!!! In case you're just really dense and haven't caught on yet, today's sandwich is a Grecian themed one.
Our sandwich, or ouo (sandwich in Greek), is from the Acropolis Four Stars Grill. Now before I move on to the whole history segment of this rambling, does it bother anyone else that it's called the Four STARS Grill instead of the Four STAR Grill? Maybe it's just me, anywho lets continue. The Acropolis is owned by a "young" man by the name of Teddy Kyriakidis. Don't you just love last name? Kyriakidis. Rolls off the tongue, I love it. Teddy came to America in 1951 (An immigrant!I wonder if the government knows about this?!?) and brought with him the tastes and smells of the foods from the streets of Athens and hills of the countryside. "The hills are alive with the smell of gyros, la la la laaaa, with a smelled they have smelled for a thousand yeeeaaarrrrssss....." Sing it Julie Andrews, forget music, sing about food! You go sista!
Teddy is also the head Chef there at the Acropolis but more often then not when you go there to eat he will be at your table at some point through out the meal making sure everything is ok. Opa!
As for my sandwich, I ordered the Souvlaki Sandwich and I'm pretty sure I really jacked up the pronunciation, but that's ok, I threw in an occasional Opa so they wouldn't know I wasn't Greek. The 'sandwich' was not a typical american type sandwich. Can you believe it? The nerve of those Greeks serving me an unamericanized sandwich! Don't they know this is America? (Kidding of course, and hopefully you've caught on by now to the sarcasm relating to some of the ridiculous things that have been said in the past week about this whole immigration thing.) Anyways, my sandwich consisted of Marinated chicken, sauteed with onions, on pita bread with lettuce, tomato and tzatziki (cucumber/yogurt [it's the ranch of Greece]) sauce. It was really quite fabulous. The chicken was tender and seasoned to perfection and if you have never tried tzatziki sauce, you're really missing out. You could tell the pita bread was home made, and all the veggies were super fresh. It was a light, fresh, yet very filling 'sandwich.'
The price wasn't bad either. For 6.95 you get your sandwich, a good portion of REAL fries, and a cup of soup. Not too bad if you ask me. The service was great, again I was on the way to work so I called it in and they had it waiting for me when I got there.
Now I have to tell you the best part of this whole experience. When it was time to take my lunch break I went to the fridge to remove my bag of food, and I experienced something I've never felt when eating take out food from some where.
I reached into my bag o' food and pulled out the container that had my sandwich and my fries in it. (Which was great and all, but it gets better) Then I go to the brown paper bag that I assumed had my cup of soup in it and I seriously felt like I was unpacking a lunch from elementary school. That probably doesn't make sense but, I had that feeling like "I can't wait to see what kind of fun stuff my Mom packed for me today." And you know when you open it up and you find that she put two packs of your favorite fruit snacks in it and you feel so loved? Anyone? Anyone feeling me?
Anyways for those of you that do, that's what this was like. I opened the bag expecting to only find soup, but to my surprise found homemade bread (three different kinds) wrapped up nicely with a little dish of their homemade cinnamon almond butter (yes it's as amazing as it sounds) and two little peppermints. I'm not making this up whilst I'm writing, I felt like a school kid again. And even though I'm sure they do it for everyone, I felt so loved.
I don't think I can give a restaurant any higher of a complement then that. When I opened up my lunch I could feel the love. It's like their menu says "Eating Greek means dining on food that is bursting with flavors, feasting with family and friends through good times and bad, celebrating life with an attitude and an appetite. Greece, it's food, and it's people promote a warm sense of hospitality and the ability to live life to it's fullest extent."
I don't think I have to say it but definitely got my gold star. (Have you people yet to watch Reno 911? I told you watch, learn it, live it. I wasn't kidding ; )
Until lunch time folks, good night and good eating....