[title type="h6"]Tuesday, September 17, 2013.[/title]
Our city lacks much in the way of Greek restaurants. The Lebanese and other Middle Eastern eateries are fairly numerous here--although not as much as in most other cities. To many diners Greek and Middle Eastern food are just about the same thing. In fact, they do have common roots, united by medieval Turkish cuisine. But, really, Greek is substantially different.)
For the past twenty years or so, we've had only two restaurants with a solidly Hellenic background: Mr. Gyros and Acropolis Cuisine. A couple of years ago Mr. Gyros moved a few blocks away from the little square building on West Esplanade at Causeway Boulevard where it has been a long time.
Taking over the structure and its funny position (between a doughnut shop and a pet and garden supply store) is a new restaurant called ZoZo. It claims to be Greek. I pass it every day, and from doing so know that it's been open long enough for me to take a taste.
They weren't expecting to be busy this rainy night, and so they were staffed lightly. Of course, a lot of people showed up, and the dining room was not functioning perfectly. If there's anything restaurateurs would love to know, it's how many people will come in for a given meal. It's completely unpredictable. That's why they like reservations.
That would be good for a customer to have, too. Maybe a cellphone app that tells you the ratio of servers to customers in a given restaurant at a given time?
[caption id="attachment_39580" align="alignnone" width="480"]
ZoZO's lentil (?) soup.[/caption]
I ordered a lentil soup and a kafta platter. The soup was good but it didn't look or taste like a standard lentil soup, being more the color of avgolemono soup. It wasn't that, either. So I accepted it at face value, as a pretty good mystery soup, served generously and hot.
And then I sat there for a long time. Finally, a waitress--different from the one who'd taken my order asked me if the soup was all I'd be having. No, I said, and reminded her about the kafta platter.
"Oh! Is that who it was for!" Somebody at another table said. From what I overheard, apparently they got my order and theirs, and figured it was lagniappe or something.
The waitress apologized and the chef got to work. What came out was a pair of kafta kebabs, made by grinding lamb or beef and making them into the shape of sausages. It's a Middle Eastern meatball or hamburger, really, but flavored with parsley and other seasonings. These were overcooked and dry, I thought. The hummus that was supposed to come with it didn't, until I pointed that out. It helped; hummus is as good as a sauce for meats as it is a dip. And this was very well-made hummus.
So, we have here a café that probably is better at lunch than at dinner. And maybe needs a few more months to fine-tune its game.
[title type="h5"]ZoZo Cafe. Metairie: 3620 N Causeway Blvd. 504-875-3444.[/title]
