European Market and Deli

4135 Park Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92103

619-298-8661

Daily 10 am-5:30 pm

The wife and I were in the mood for something new this weekend but we didn't want to venture too far outside of North Park. We were going to drop by Henry's and pick up some stuff to make sandwiches. Right next to Henry's is this place that I've wanted to check out for some time now. They were small and quaint and I had a feeling they had some good imported cheese and possibly some bread. By the way, I'm still on my quest for bread. I've been to a number of places and found a few recommendations, but I have a few other bakeries I need to check out before writing my complete review. So be patient, it's coming...eventually.

Okay back to the deli. We walked in and it was about as small as it looked from the outside. There's about 5 tables (seating for about 16) inside and a patio with another couple tables. The walls are lined with imported goods (pastas, oils, sauces, etc.) and about half of them are predominantly covered with Greek lettering. Very many of them have no English written on them at all. That's a good sign. To date, I had been going down to Little Italy to get imported goods from the Mona Lisa restaurant. But there's no quick way to get down to Little Italy from North Park and I'm walking more these days, so finding a closer imports place is a huge benefit to me.

As soon as we walked in, a large lady with a thick Greek accent greeted us. I knew we were in the right place. The display case at the front counter had spanikopita, two types of Feta (a French and a Greek...I'd never heard of French feta before) as well as some enormous beans (thought they were Fava since they were so large, but they're a form of mild butter bean). In another case there were trays full of bakalava and other assorted pastries. The first thing I was afraid of was that we would be breaking the bank on what I wanted to be a light lunch. It wasn't obvious where the menus were, but there were two people cooking. We found the menus and were shocked to see that the prices were so reasonable. We got a vegetarian sampler plate for $6 and a veggie pita for $5. That would be pretty good if the serving size were the same as most places, but the sampler plate ended up being about twice as much food as other places' samplers. There was a generous serving of hummus, these giants butter beans, tziziki sauce, a piece of spanikopita, two domales (stuffed grape leaves) and pita. There was too much hummus and not enough pita, but the whole plate was about a pound of food.

The wife didn't like the hummus, but I did. It's a light fluffy bean whip...whereas many places spike it with a lot of garlic and lemon and many leave it a bit chunky. This one was silky smooth and just light and airy. So if you've had a bad experience with hummus in the past, this would be a great place to give it a second shot. The flavor is mild and there's no beanie (or tahini) aftertaste. The spanikopita was about perfect (they charge $1.50 per piece at the case and it's a decent size). Kyla (the wife...have I formally introduced her?) was particularly in love with the tziziki sauce. It was much richer and creamier than any we've had before.

My pita wrap was also quite good and pretty much what you'd find at any Greek cafe: tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and lettuce...but there were two things that made it above average they put a spicy feta mix on top (they call it Feta Diablou) and I'm pretty sure the vinaigrette Was made in house. The second (okay third...who's counting?) thing that made it great was the pita. I'm pretty sure they make their own pita on site. It was very fresh and there was still flour on the outside of it that you could feel on your hands. They have piles of pita bread stacked up at the front of the display case and it's better than any other store-bought pita I've had before, so if you're planning a Greek night and don't want the hassle of making your own pita (it's a good deal of work) this is the only substitute I've found worth buying.

There's also lamb and many other traditional meat dishes. But I was pleased to find a few choices for vegetarian on their very very small menu. They also cater (I think that's where they do most of their business) and their menu mentions you can go "off menu" when making a catering order. I wonder if I can convince my employer to hook that up...probably not...

The service was also top notch. The place is family owned and operated and you know it as soon as you step in the door as you're greeted warmly. The lady there might as well be the Greek mother you never had but always wanted (why can't I be from an ethnic family dammit?).

Powered by ScribeFire.