The Posse Goes Greek, Or, A Tale Of Two Greeks

....And the eat goes on.

     I can't pinpoint exactly whose idea it was for The Panera Posse to play hooky last week from our sacrosanct Wednesday morning ritual,

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...but it all started the Wednesday morning before last when I asked my girls if anybody had any ideas for a rehearsal dinner venue for my nephew and his fiancee,

...and everybody pulled out their smart phones to look up rehearsal dinner venues, and somebody  scrolled upon a Greek restaurant, which got us off the subject of rehearsal dinners and  onto the subject of Greek food, which it turned out we all liked, and which reminded one of the members of an eatery over on East Broad Street in nearby Whitehall called "The Mad Greek" which most of us had never heard of though we all agreed that it would be great to zip on over to the place right then, as talking about Greek food had put us all in the mood, except that none of us had time that day, however we were soon all in on the idea of  skipping out on Panera the following Wednesday and doing  lunch at The Mad Greek instead.
       Which we did. 

       Now, up until this point my favorite place for Greek had been another Whitehall establishment called King Gyros (which I mentioned briefly back in the 9/10/2014 post on my recipe for Hungarian stuffed cabbage),

...after making the acquaintance of The Mad Greek I'd say there's some serious competition going on in Whitehall for great Greek food;  unless the two share ownership, which I kind of have a suspicion might be the case,

...as upon entering the dining room of The Mad Greek one is greeted by a pastry case full of the same kind of scrumptious-looking pastries that are on display at King Gyro,

...the walls of both restaurants are painted in blue and white murals evocative of the sunny Greek isles,

...and Zorba The Greek-esque music emanates throughout both restaurants.
     However  King Gyro is more of a semi-fast-food place, as one orders from a menu posted on the wall at the counter and one's food is delivered, and the soft-drinks are self-serve, while The Mad Greek is sit-down,

...and has a bar.

       But the food at both establishments is wonderful.  In the case of The Mad Greek this is attested to by the fact that when we arrived just as the doors were opening at 11 am the place was empty, whereas by noon on this ordinary Wednesday afternoon every seat in the restaurant was filled,

...as were most on the outdoor patio as well,

...buttressing my theory (see post from 4/19/2016) that people will always discover a great restaurant, be its location ever so inauspicious and its outer trappings ever so tchotchke.

     But anyway, since we were the first ones in the place we were able to grab a nice sunny table by one of the wall-to-wall windows that fills the dining room with natural light.

     We started off with appetizers to share:

...a plate of hummus, spinach dip and tzatziki,

 ...and some over-the-top delicious stuffed mushrooms hidden under a splendid sauce which was great for pita-dipping.

    Among us we followed up with:
    Beautifully presented gyros with the delicious tzatziki pleasantly on the side,

...salad,

...a vegan plate,

...and feta with olives and spinach pies in philo dough.

    I somehow neglected to get a shot of the fries that I ordered, but they were wonderful, skin-on, small, irregularly cut and oh, so hot and crispy.

     For dessert we shared a plate of yummy baklava which the chef garnished with a ring of chocolate sauce and some yummy almond cookies.

      It was a great meal with great friends, well worth the short jaunt from our turf in Gahanna to Whitehall and the stray from our well-loved Panera routine.
     And I've come to the conclusion that The Mad Greek must indeed be related to King Gyro;  between the decor, the music and the food, I always leave King Gyro longing to visit Greece.

     I left The Mad Greek feeling the same way.