Wow. I'm not a huge Mediterranean fan, but maybe it's just because I'd never been here before. My top-tier chum and I stopped by for brunch yesterday to pre-game before an Oscar movie down the street; she'd been here before and I'd heard very positive feedback about it on my end. I responsibly made a reservation, which turned out to be completely needless as the restaurant had no occupied tables when we came in (though to be fair, I think it officially opened about 30 seconds before we opened the door). It definitely picked up throughout our meal so I have no regrets about ensuring a spot.
Very pleasant vibe in here - like most of the imagery the Mediterranean area conjures up, there are a lot of light whites and blues, including framed artwork on the wall that looks straight out of 2008 masterpiece Mamma Mia! (sadly, my #1 cultural reference point for Greece). There's a nice looking wine bar near the entrance that I would have given a more thorough look at if I were feeling naughtier. We were seated in the dining area to the left near the windows, and made ourselves comfortable. I will say as an aside that I'd recommend leaving your coat on the rack by the door if it occurs to you - the chairs in here are very wide/round so I finally had to give up and almost sit on my coat in lieu of having it hang out on the floor.
To start off our adventure, we split two apps - the hummus at my chum's request, and the za'atar bread. I would definitely get these as a package deal if you can for dipping purposes. I'm generally not a hummus person, but I thought this was excellent; not grainy like the kind you get in the supermarket, and when does dousing olive oil on something not improve the quality? But I'm not sure I would have liked it as much if I wasn't coating the hummus with my za-atar.
I decided to get a little frisky/out of my comfort zone and ordered the Shakshuka, which is a dish I've never had before but was similar enough to a mainstream brunch option that I felt like I was unlikely to get burned too hard if I was wrong. And I wasn't wrong - this was DELICIOUS. Very decent portion (per the accompanying picture, there were three eggs, one of which was obscured by the slice of bread) and the tomato sauce was super flavorful and helped to mute the feta, which is usually a little too overwhelming for me. Perfect balance and 100% something I would get again now that I'm obviously a Mediterranean cuisine expert. My chum got the Mushroom Manti, partially encouraged by our waiter, and was a big fan as well. I tried it but it wasn't my jam, though I also am not a fan of mushrooms so I am for sure not the target demo for that particular menu item.
I didn't even hesitate when our waiter asked about dessert, and it was an easy call. We split the first time on that menu, which was the Z Chef Special/Strawberry Pavlova. Unsurprisingly excellent. The only nitpick I have is a personal palate preference - the texture of meringue is a little chalky/gritty for me, but the pastry cream and raspberry sauce carried the day. Incredible and a great way to wrap up the meal. And somehow (my chum said this is pretty typical of the food genre) we ate apps, an entree and dessert and didn't feel disgusting. I even went over to nearby Java Love right afterwards to smuggle a pastry into the theater for later.
The service was perfect. Everyone involved with taking our orders and providing the food was friendly and attentive. We had plenty of water and no lag time for anything. Just great.
Huge recommendation. Next time I'm hitting up the wine bar. read more