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Good Food
Good FoodTradition Reigns at Greenwood Eateries
By Zachary D. Lyons
Ahmed Asfour shaves gyro meat for a customer. |
Behind an unassuming yellow awning just south of the intersection of 85th and Greenwood resides a tiny eatery that is a favorite among Greenwood merchants and shoppers: Mr Gyro's. The menu is simple--written in chalk on a blackboard hung on the wall: gyros, falafel, dolmas, with sides of hummos, baba, tzatziki. The most expensive menu item, at $6.99, is the Combo Dinner--a dish with a day's worth of food. There are two tables surrounded by four chairs each.
Owner Ahmed Asfour moved to Seattle from New York City in 1994 specifically to run Mr. Gyro's. He left his native Egypt for New York nine years earlier. An old friend from Egypt worked in the World Trade Center. Ahmed says his friends and neighbors in the Greenwood neighborhood have been wonderful to him in recent weeks, checking in on him and sharing good will. It's hard not to like him with his big smile, friendly service and easygoing demeanor.
I went in for lunch recently, intent on trying a little of everything. So I ordered the Combo Dinner, which comes with beef and lamb gyro, and chicken gyro, along with two pitas, lettuce, tomato and onion, fresh tzatziki, and your choice of hummos or baba. Then I ordered a side of falafel. I think Ahmed was amused. The beef and lamb gyro had a nice crust to it from its rotating roaster, accentuating the flavors of the meat. Slapped on a pita with some veggies and his tangy tzatziki, and you have a taste treat. The chicken gyro is there for those who don't do red meat. It is much milder than its counterpart. The falafel was great--light and a bit fluffy, not dense like some make it--it is seasoned just right. I dipped it in his terrific hummos. Ahmed even added pizza to his menu two months ago to please some neighborhood merchants.
I left well fed, with a smile on my face after a pleasant conversation with Ahmed.
8411 Greenwood Ave N, 706-7472, open Monday - Friday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. Take out, phone orders and party catering.
DeAne Price and Chelsea Osterhout enjoy a break by the Stalk Exchange’s living room fireplace. |
It's easy for me to like a place like the Stalk Exchange on Phinney Ridge. For years, I have preached the gospel of supporting local businesses. Not only is this place local, these guys go out of their way to buy from other local businesses, buying locally grown food from small family farms and using organically produced ingredients wherever possible. As much as I've thought about the issues surrounding it, I still enjoy some meat with my plants. These guys do, too, and they insist on finding the healthiest, highest quality meat to serve you. And I love soul food...
The Stalk Exchange, located in a house on the Phinney-Greenwood Bend, immediately makes you feel at home. You can eat in the living room by the fireplace, or in the dining room near the kitchen. If you arrive at a busy time, you may have to wait a few minutes to settle into a table, but once you do, you will simply melt into the warm light and homey colors, feeling like you are at a friend's house for a big holiday meal.
The key to this place is family. It was opened in September of 1999 by sisters Laurie Dent and Nancy Williams. While Laurie runs the place today, Nancy and her husband are responsible for the brick oven and the bread it produces, and her daughter works in the kitchen.
For starters, we tried the Sauteed Olives, Onion Rings, and the Baked Goat Cheese Salad. Okay, the olives were a bit unusual. I think I liked them more than my companions, but then again, I like duck tongue. They did come with the most wonderful Irish cheddar, and plenty of their house-baked bread from the brick oven. The onion rings just plain rocked. Dipped in buttermilk and tossed in a nicely seasoned flour, they came with a caper tartar sauce for dipping which was so good, we kept it to finish off after the onion rings were gone. The salad was a veritable cornucopia of fresh and tasty delights: various greens, nuts, and a large and diverse assortment of seasonal fruits topped with a tasty ball of goat cheese. The small version is large, so the large must be huge. Still, we ate every bite.
For dinner, we had the Shrimp, the Pork Chops, and the Chicken Fried Chicken. The pork chops--Sara Joe's organic pork from Eastern Washington--came pan sauteed simply in olive oil, salt and pepper, and accompanied by apple chutney, pureed sweet squash and mashed potatoes. The chops were moist and flavorful, and the sides were all excellent.
The shrimp stirred a little controversy as they were the environmentally questionable Thai farm-raised variety that dominate local markets and eateries, including even PCC. Still, we wondered about them, given how strict Stalk Exchange is in choosing its other ingredients. That said, they were really good. Butterflied shell-on, sauteed with garlic, jalapenos and chili peppers, they came sided with rice, Southern greens and corn bread. The rice was the simple Southern white variety (remember Uncle Ben's?), and the greens and corn bread where spot on. One can only assume that Laurie Dent's diligence will see to it soon that some of our fine Northwest wild spot and stripe prawns replace the dreaded Thai ones.
The Chicken Fried Chicken is the best I've found in Seattle. A Rosie's organic chicken breast filet breaded in a perfectly seasoned batter and fried, it comes smothered in a delicious Sara Joe's organic andouille sausage gravy. We subbed the Irish mashed potatoes for the regular ones here, so as to try both menu varieties. They are to die for--a meal in themselves.
The portions were huge, and we wanted to save room for dessert, so we all got take-home boxes, which made for a great lunch the next day. Then we reveled in fresh berry shortcake, flourless (but not flower-less) chocolate cake, and mud pie. The desserts are house-made. The shortcake was terrific, piled high with fresh berries and topped with a lovely creme fraiche with just the right amount of sour. The chocolate cake, which amusingly came adorned with a flower, was rich and moist, and did not last long. And the mud pie--boy, howdy! A huge slice of comfort, it was inhaled.
Indeed, comfort is the operative word (even if we did have to loosen our belts). What the Stalk Exchange serves up so well is comfort. As Dent says, you are eating in her home, surrounded by family. And if home is where the heart is, there is no doubt that the Stalk Exchange is Laurie Dent's home.
6711 Greenwood Ave. N, 782-3911, Lunch Wednesday - Friday 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., dinner Wednesday - Saturday 5 - 9 p.m., brunch Saturday - Sunday 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.; espresso and deli items to go.
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