grk

Because our NYC Dawgs board meeting was scheduled at supper time, we all planned to grab food on our way to Hansel's apartment and eat during our working session.  Hansel lives in the financial district, an area I am wholly unfamiliar with so I picked up food from the place closest to her apartment, grk.  After stuffing my face with this fresh Greek food, I immediately went online to see where else it was located.  Nowhere.  That's what I learned.  The only location of this restaurant is in the entirely inconvenient [to me] Financial District.  Why, grk, why?!  I enjoyed your food so much and need to be able to eat it on a far more regular basis.  Consider this my plea for you to open up another branch, preferably in Murray Hill.

Here's the thing: there aren't a ton of Greek restaurants in Manhattan.  There are a couple of wonderful taverna style places, but those are for sit down meals and tend to be pricier.  Other than grk, there's no place for a good gyro.  You could always go for street meat, but though it's fabulous at 3 AM, it seems too greasy in the light of day and doesn't come with any sides.  And, sure, all diners are owned by Greeks and have a few Greek items on the menu, but it's not the same as going somewhere devoted to this type of food.  grk is the solution.

I wanted to try one of the sides, so I ordered the yeero plate, which comes with your choice of meat (chicken, pork, or lamb & beef - I got lamb/beef), tzatziki (traditional, spicy, or basil - I got basil), 4 pita triangles, and side (chips, brown rice, or aegean slaw - I got slaw).  The meat was not greasy, the portions were ample, the yogurt in the tzatziki was thick, the pita soft and just charred enough, and the slaw had the perfect blend of spices that I can't figure out.  I didn't think I would love the slaw but I ended up stuffing into my pie hole in forkfuls too large to be considered ladylike.  I didn't try the yogurt, but it looked like there were some interesting toppings (fig preserves, savory options) and it is imported from Greece.

If only I had an excuse to go all the way downtown again tonight, I would go back to grk and order the exact same thing all over again.  So, again, grk, please open up a location near my apartment soon.