Midtown Mission Week 3: Holy Land

Well, this was my first real disappointment at the Midtown Market.

My friend Shannon and I wanted gyros, so we went to Holy Land. They had gyros, and about ten thousand other things, which is cool, but sometimes a menu can get so extensive it just gets ridiculous. They literally had so many options and selections, they had multiple menues all around the place. There was a big menu above the counter, menues to the right of the counter, menues behind you, then other menues if you walk around the corner past the register. Maybe it was all of the menues, but it also took us a few minutes to figure out where to order. The whole place was just overwhelming.

I ordered the Philly Style Gyro sandwich, and I know what you're thinking... that's your fault, and you're right. But the picture looked great, and since I love gyros and phillies, I thought it would be the perfect combo. It was not. Imagine a gyro on a bun instead of a pita, and smothered with cheeze wiz instead of tsatsiki sauce. Ugh. I don't think it was actually cheeze wiz, but it was some kind of weird, unappealing cheese type sauce, which covered the gyro meat, onions, and peppers. Anyway, I didn't care for it.

I also ordered a side of fries, which weren't very good either. They were clearly frozen fries, which is fine, but they were bad frozen fries, that were mostly coating with very little potato.

Shannon got some kind of gyro lunch box, that came with pitas, meat, veggies, and tahini sauce, much to her dismay. Who puts tahini sauce on a gyro? Give tsatsiki! Even worse, it was bad tahini sauce, that was dark brown and incredibly thick. It looked and tasted like mud. She also got fries, but hers were noticeably browner and crustier than mine.

Anyway... that was Holy Land. I realize I should have probably got something more authentic than a philly gyro, but I can't imagine I'll go back any time soon, if ever again.

Sorry.

Midtown Mission Week 2: Sonora Grill

I'm not sure how to describe Sonora Grill, other than to just say that it was delicious.

Hold on... I just looked up the word "Sonora" and learned that it is a state in Mexico, so I guess this is a Mexican restaurant, but you wouldn't know that from the menu that is shockingly devoid of burritos and tacos. In fact, I didn't know what anything on the menu was, but luckily there is a big board on the wall that has pictures of just about everything, so I was able to figure out what looked good. I ended up getting the Pork Guajillo bocadillo, which is a "Spanish South American style sandwich, served with fries."

Anyway, it looked good in the picture, and as you can tell from the picture I took, it wasn't just good, it was amazing.

It was pulled pork of some sort topped with greens and some kind of creamy cilantro sauce. It came with french fries and one little container of pickles and another little container of the same sauce. The sandwich was already drenched with sauce, so I just used that to dip my fries in, but I did put the pickles on the sandwich. Long story short, it was awesome. The pork was perfectly cooked, flavorful, and incredibly juicy, and while the sauce was very mild in flavor, it perfectly complimented the meat.

The fries were fine. They did their job, but they didn't taste as though they were necessarily freshly cut.

And, frankly, that's all I have to say about Sonora Grill. Just go there. It was great. The only really complaint I have is that it was so good, I may have to abandon my mission to try every restaurant in the Midtown Market and just eat there every time.

Midtown Mission Part 1: Andy's Garage

Here is the mission I have set for myself: To eat at every restaurant in the Midtown Global Market by the end of Summer/start of fall, or at least until it becomes too cold to bike there from my apartment.

Why? Because I love the Market, but I always tend to visit the same one or two places over and over again, so I wanted to force myself to branch out and try more things, at least for the sake of this blog. It's also the perfect distance for a nice bike ride, and I'd like to force myself to do more of that as well. So... I have begun the Midtown Mission.

Andy's Garage was my first choice to begin my mission, not only because I've heard so many raves about their food, but because I always overlook them when I visit. I always figure I can get a burger and fries anywhere, so why not get something more exotic? Anyway, yesterday I finally gave Andy's a try, and it was pretty good, but not exceptional.

Their menu is quite extensive, with a variety of different burgers and sandwiches, but I just got a cheeseburger and fries, because I don't care what you put on a burger, just cheese and pickles is going to be better. The service was great and very fast, although the wait for the food to come was about ten or fifteen minutes, but that's ok because everything was clearly made to order, and unlike many places in the Market, their seating area doesn't feel overcrowded or right in the middle of a busy hallway. And the space is fun to just look at, since it is a pretty nice facsimile of some greasy spoon diner from the fifties, and somehow manages to be cool without being overly obnoxious, if that makes any sense.

The best part of the burger was the bun, which tasted fresh and had that perfect tenderness that made it soft to the bite, but firm enough to not get soggy when wrapped around a juicy cheeseburger. The burger was perfectly cooked (although they didn't ask me how I wanted it done, so be warned that the default is toward well done, or at least mine was) and very juicy and tasted fresh, but I had to admit it was too salty for my tastes. I choose my words their very diplomatically because, as I said, people rave about this place and it's always crowded, so maybe it's just my tastes or maybe it was just an off day. Either way, I found the salt to be overpower and off-putting, which is a shame because everything else seemed so perfect.

The fries were about as fresh as I'll ever get at any restaurant anywhere, since they literally cut up the potato after I ordered, and the difference was amazing. I've never had fries that fresh or that well cooked. However... they were too salty for my tastes. I hate to say it, but there you go. Too salty for my tastes. I'd definitely go back for those fries, and ordering them with no salt shouldn't be a problem considering how they were a whole potato just five minutes before I placed my order.

So that's Andy's Garage, an almost perfect culinary experience, except for the fact that everything was over-salted for my tastes, but I'll definitely give them another try, and I do recommend you try them as well. I did get a pretty good cheeseburger, fries, and a fountain soda for under ten bucks, which is about as cheap a lunch as you'll get at the market. But ask them to go light on the salt.