Sometimes when I travel for work, I come back with a craving I just can’t get rid of. When I come back from Chicago, it’s some sort of pasta dish. New York, it’s almost always Thai food. And randomly enough, when I come back from Dallas, I want Mediterranean food. Nope, not Mexican, but a good old gyro. You can blame my obsession on Mama Pita, a fast casual restaurant in Plano. Mama Pita cooks all sorts of skewers – lamb, beef and chicken, and serves like a million types of hummus (carrot or beet anyone?). You can assemble these skewers on a plate with salad, or stuffed in a pita, which is what I always get. Delicious. I decided to make it at home. Without a recipe. My husband was skeptical. He had no idea…

I started off seasoning the chicken and soaking the skewers in water for a few minutes so they wouldn’t burn in the oven. I seasoned the chicken all by eye, but you can season until it smells right. I used:

• Garlic Powder
• Crushed Red Pepper
• Cumin
• Coriander
• Salt
• Oregano
• Olive Oil

While that marinated in the fridge, I cut the veggies up: onions and green and red peppers.

After the chicken sat for a few hours, I skewered the whole deal and baked in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, until it was done all the way through.

I made Carla Hall’s yogurt sauce, and used a little cream to water it down to a slightly runny consistency.

Next, I tossed a little salad with feta cheese, vinegar and olive oil.

And then for the assembly.

And Voila! They may not be Mama Pita’s, but they were damn good. Let me know how yours turn out!

Enjoy!

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You guys know how much I love José Andrés and Zaytinya. Another excuse to get out to eat tapas? Like I need one. But if you do, here’s one: They have a new Easter menu coming out that sounds amazing.

The Details:

Dates: April 8th through April 22nd

Menu: A variety of spring lamb dishes, the return of the lamb sandwich cart and Easter cookies. Two spring cocktails created especially for the festival.

The Sandwich Cart: The cart will be on the restaurant’s outdoor patio, Monday thru Friday, from 12 p.m. until sandwiches  are sold out. $11 sandwiches will feature spit-roasted lamb served on oven-fresh pita, with tzatziki and pickled onions.

The Cookies: Greek Easter cookies will be available to-go or to eat with your sandwich. Priced at $5 for a mixed assortment,  including Paximadakia, (a Greek biscotti-type cookie flavored with citrus zest); Pastoules Amygthalotes, (traditional almond cookies); Melamokarina, (spiced walnut cookie soaked in honey syrup); and Kourabiedes, (crescent shaped cookies made with pine nuts and Metaxa).

The Drinks: The Attica, a combination of Plymouth gin infused with rose buds, lemon juice, house-made grenadine and garnished with Retsina air. Also featured is the Anastasis created with Beefeater gin, Cocchi Americano, kumquat liqueur and lemon juice. 

Chefs Experience Menu

two people, ten courses $99 (excluding tax and gratuity)

Mayiritsa

traditional lamb avgolemono broth, short grained rice, caramelized onions, lamb’s liver

Asparagus Salata

white asparagus tzatziki, pistachios, green asparagus, lemon zest

Greek Easter Maroulosalata

green and red tango lettuce, caramelized myzithra cheese, ladolemono, flowers

Glossa

thinly sliced lamb’s tongue, potato skordalia, green olives, pickled red chilis, celery, candied pistachios

Spanakorizo

rice pilaf with wilted spinach and tomato, spinach puree, feta cheese, preserved cherry tomatoes

Bizeli me Yiaourti

english peas, garlic yogurt, pistachios, micro lemon mint

Arni me Sparangia

lamb shoulder, asparagus, ladolemono, dill

Loukaniko me Patates

traditional house made lamb sausage scented with orange and cumin, potato, garlic

Greek Easter Lamb Kleftico

spit roasted lamb, kefalograviera cheese, english pea skordalia, feta, dill

Dessert

Tsoureki Bread Pudding

Mascerated strawberries, candied almonds, orange flower ice cream

Visit Zaytinya at:

701 9th Street NW

Washington DC 20001

202.638.0800

Enjoy!

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San Francisco? Nah, Good old Queens, baby!

So I have the “luxury” of living in Astoria, Queens. Living here is luxury in that it is technically still New York City, I am close enough to Manhattan to enjoy it but I can escape the heroin addicts and endless groups of tourists when I want. I lived in Manhattan for 2 years while going to NYU, and decided that I had to get out. There’s only so much of the homeless people, vomit and urine smells one can take. And on top of that, Manhattan can be a scene-y world of skinny models and bankers with blue collared shirts. If you ask me, the real culture is in the neighborhoods where the communities are preserved and you feel like you’re in another place.

My neighborhood in Astoria is Italian and Greek. And I love that I benefit from my Mediterranean neighbors. The neighborhood is dotted with Greek cafes, serving the most bitter coffee you’ll ever drink and tons of little spots where you have to either speak Italian or Greek to order anything. There are Italian bakeries where you can get fresh-baked bread and cannolis that are filled on the spot. The food is the most authentic outside of visiting those countries, because many times the people who come over to America use food to preserve memories of home. The care that is put into the food to make it authentic makes it amazing.

I also have the great fortune of living above my Sicilian landlord, who sends food up occasionally, and scoffs whenever she sees a delivery man in the building, lamenting how we should all cook more, because “it’s easy.”

There are some great places to visit in Astoria, if you want to get a real taste of authentic, true to its roots Mediterranean food:

Kyklades (Greek) – This place has amazing seafood and tzatziki. There is so much garlic in the tzatziki that it can burn your tongue. I love it. Try the shepherd’s salad – a real Greek salad with cucumbers, feta, red onions and tomatoes. NO lettuce. The whole fish there is super fresh, which makes sense due to the Greek fisherman’s roots.

Trattoria L’Incontro (Italian) – Nearly perfect Italian food. The manager’s name is Vinnie, and the chef’s name is Rocco. Need I say more? There are typically 20-30 “specials” that the waiters spit off from memory. Try the amazing lobster and mint in pink sauce over fresh pasta. Amazing.

Artopolis (Greek) – Super cute bakery. They have every kind of Greek pastries you can think of. Little cookies with nuts, custard-y tarts and baklava. There’s seating for coffee and pastries, if you can get a seat from the Greek men who sit there all day. Literally.

Rose and Joe’s (Italian) – This bakery makes fresh bread daily, and will fill cannolis as you order them, as it should be. They don’t take credit cards and will wrap your box with those traditional red and white strings.

Cassinelli Pasta (Italian) – Amazing homemade pasta. They service restaurants in Queens and Manhattan, and are open strange hours, but you can buy fresh pasta and sheets for ravioli. And I did. My sister got me a ravioli maker for my bridal shower (Love you Hayley, for that!) Trattoria L’Incontro uses their pasta for their dishes, and it is divine.

Rosarios (Italian) – The real Rosario is ever-present in this deli, where Italian imported products are abundant. They sell fresh Pecorino, which they will grate for you there. The deli guys all speak in Italian, and will serve up refrigerated olives, meatballs and calamari for you to take home.

Enjoy!

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