Mediterranean Buffet

We tried a new local restaurant last night..... it was advertised as a Mediterranean Buffet. I had visions of hot and steaming trays filled with delicious Greek and Turkish foods. Oh me of little knowledge.

What we found there was lots of trays filled with foods, but nothing remotely resembling the Greek and Turkish foods that we have eaten in the past. The buffet was filled with Middle Eastern foods. Lots of rice dishes, spinach, cabbage, chicken, fish, lentils (yellow lentils?), potatoes, and other things that were unfamiliar to us. Had their sign read Middle Eastern Buffet, we would have thought twice about going there.

When we walked into the restaurant, we had to pay for the buffet before we were seated. We thought this was a little out of the ordinary, but when in Rome.... (Or more appropriate: When in the Middle East...) After the young man at the counter ran my husband's credit card through the machine, he told us we could walk down and look at the buffet before we paid. But the card had already gone through, and we were there.... so we just took a chance.

I helped myself to some of the fish, the spinach, the cabbage, the tossed salad, then more of the spinach. They had some rounds of pita bread there-- which were straight out of a package and as cold as cardboard. (Our favorite Greek restaurant has delicious hot pita bread that tastes homemade.) The fish was good, the spinach was okay, the rest was so-so. My husband tried some of the chicken dishes, the potatoes, some of the vegetables..... everything was either not hot enough, or too overdone. I watched him as he was tasting the foods---- he originally wanted to drive downtown for dinner, but my suggestion was to try this buffet. We had driven past it one day this week and the parking lot was positively packed. A full parking lot usually means great food. As my husband was eating what he could of the dinner last night, I know he was wishing we had gone downtown.

Oh well. As long as we were there, I tried some of the desserts. The baklava was good, the other ones weren't worth the calories. My husband said the restaurant was a tiny step above fast food. Which is an insult to McDonald's. I don't eat at McDonald's, but I know their burgers are always hot, their bread is warm, the fries aren't stale, and even though you have to pay before you get your meal, at least what you get will be good. (Maybe not good for you, but good.)

So that was our adventure for last night. When we came home, we checked the Internet for that restaurant-- we thought it was just the one, but it's part of a chain. There are seven or eight of them all around Houston. How can that be? I guess you have to just like that type of food in order to enjoy those restaurants.

I told my husband not to bother taking any business trips to the Middle East. We already know we aren't going to like the foods. And I don't intend to fly across an ocean for cold bread that could be tossed like a Frisbee. No wonder everyone in the Middle East is so downright cranky.