Saturday, April 22, 2006

it's all greek to me ...

As many of you, the regular readers of my blog (now at 11.7 and climbing!!), know, I'm something of a gourmand — I love a good meal. I like to try different cuisines, though I am somewhat picky about some ingredients (beans and most fish and seafood). So when I heard of a new restaurant, called Caspian Grill, which featured Greek and Mediterranean cuisine, I thought I would try it out.

Now Guam doesn't have a lot of European cuisine spots. I mean, there are some Italian restaurants, some French or French-inspired/fused places, and even one that's French and Spanish, for the most part. But you don't see things like Hungarian or other Eastern European cuisines, the only German restaurant that was here (and it rocked! *sigh*) closed after not too long. We have tons of Asian restaurants, which I guess is natural being so close to Asia.

So, my point is that I've never really had a lot of Greek food. There was a Greek restaurant here before, a gyro house, mostly, but it too didn't last long. And this one Italian restaurant had some kebabs and filafels and couscous and what not.

So, basically, I don't really know what GOOD Greek/Mediterranean cuisine is. I know if I eat something and it tastes good that I'll like it, but I couldn't make the same kind of judgments I can about Chamorro food, or American food, or other foods with which I'm very familiar.

That being said, I liked my meal. I had a Greek salad with just the right amount of feta. Then I had a steak gyro. It was good; I really like the homemade flat bread. What worried me was that the waitstaff didn't pronounce the food items the way I've heard before, and some of the spelling was weird.

For example, the waitress pronounced gyro as "jye-roe." I've always heard it as "yee-ro," with a silent G. Oh, and baklava was spelled something like "bahg-lava." LOL ... and they were out of it :(

I'll have to go back sometime and try the kebabs ... I'm a big fan of meat on a stick! Heh.

Random Guam Fact Of The Day:
• While Spring is in the air for most of you, Guam doesn't have a Spring. Most of your have four seasons (or close to it); we have two seasons — Rainy Season (July-December) and "Dry" Season (rest of the year). And dry really isn't dry-dry ... it's usually just not AS rainy.

12 comments:

sassinak said...

damm i would really miss seasons if they went and left me... in fact i'm jonesing for the winter that wasn't right now...

ah well

greek food is yummy and that wrap looks well made so i'd say if you liked it it's good :)

SignGurl said...

Greek food is yummy. There is a lot of speculation around here about the pronunciation of Gyro. I've heard it both ways but think it is yee-ro. Who cares as long as they taste good, right?

Suze said...

Dzer, as long as the food is delicious it doesn't matter and you have a very discerning palate.

I'm also jealous of the amount of times you eat out by comparison to me.

You know what I'm about to say now don' you. You lucky, lucky bastard. :D

KJ said...

I'm hungry

DZER said...

sass: I do miss the seasons a bit ... but oh well. Maybe I'll see them soon. And the wrap was pretty yummy :)

grainne: I forgot you did the whole Europe thing ... you can be my guide to Greek and stuff LOL

signgurl: I guess it doesn't really matter ... I just didn't want some crazy Greek chef all pissed off at me for mispronouncing his cuisine LOL

suze: hey! no fair using my line! and I'd rather eat what alex eats on ... heh ;)

kristen: poor thing ... wanna go Greek? heh

Chrissie: I have no idea how it's supposed to be presented ... the whole not eaten a lot of Greek before LOL

and perhaps I overexaggerated a wee bit with EVERY meal being grilled cheese and tuna. I did have tuna fish sammiches for dinner, and lunch — which will be in about half hour or so — will be a homemade salad ... well, a bagged salad with a few add-ons. :)

Madame X said...

Gyro's are always wrapped like that in NY you can't keep the flat bread rolled otherwise...FYI...I never figured you for a Greek Lover D!

DZER said...

madame x: I just love good food ... heh

Madame X said...

Yeah they are Chrissie and it frankly sux ass because if you unwrap them they fall apart and if you don't unwrap chances are you're gonna eat some paper....Greek and Mexican...damn I'm hungry!!

DZER said...

chrissie: shaddap! LOL

madame x: I'm hungry too!

cinnamon girl said...

In my experience, Hungarian resturants are very rare.

Being Hungarian, I think I know why.

The only thing people know about our food is goulash (we call it gulyas). They don't know anything else, so when a Hungarian resturant opens it doesn't get many customers. At least, that is what happened in my home town (here in Australia).

And Hungarians can cook their own national food well- why go out for something you would make yourself cheaper and possibly better?

Having said that, there are a few things I didn't learn to cook that I would LOVE to be able to get in a resturant. Things I miss from my childhood.

Oh, damn you, you've brought back food memories....

JMai said...

Huh... we have the same seasons. Well, our winter is not very rainy. But our rainy (aka hurricane) season is a daily monsoon for about an hour, then back to oppressively humid 90+ degree-heat.

Lovely.

And next time? Go back and have a spinakopita and also the macaroni with mincemeat and bechamel. Can't remember what the Greek call that but we Egyptians just call it "macarona bechamel" because we're so clever. Also, don't bother with the grape leaves because the Greek kind is too thick and lemony but if they have proper ones, they'll be stuffed with minced lamb and rice and be absolutely divine. Try them with the lemon potatoes. Yum.

I hope you catch this post... I went back a bit, trying to catch up!

DZER said...

jmai: hmm ... *taking notes*

and I never knew you were egyptian! cool!

the greek salad actually had two of the grape-leaf-rice-and-stuff things ... they were pretty good! :)