kafe neo

kafe neo
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i do my laundry at the laundromat on the corner of 4th and temple. so when the auto shop across the street was demolished and a simple and somewhat designed building slowly began to emerge out of the rubble, i was curious. the terrible renderings that showed a cafe in a bright neon green troubled me. new buildings pop up here, and there, but they often have fresh paint in a bad color choice over stucco, which seems to either show dirt well or make a building look dirty.

as the place was coming together, it showed a lot of promise..including a soft around the edges yellow orange not neon green exterior as pictured in the ill-proportioned rendering. i was very excited that a potentially good food place would come into existence within walking distance of home. mike thinks i'm crazy for getting excited about this place, considering that there are two other places within walking distance that we haven't even tried. i wasn't sure either why i was getting so worked up.

the place finally put up an open sign a week or so ago, and today we walked over for a late lunch.

although it was no starling diner, it is a treasure to discover tasty food we don't have to drive to. how i miss my days living in san francisco's mission district where lots of good food, lounge bars with awesome jukeboxes (you could tell a lot about a place by its jukebox) and plenty of unique shops. this was before i became accustomed to mini-malls and traffic. this nostalgia is probably why i was so excited. i remember when i didn't have a car and drive everywhere. i cursed the unreliable buses and loved the bart, but i was out communing with fellow man, even if he sometimes smelled of urine and could clear a train in seconds. but i digress...

i quickly glanced over the story on the back of the menu before the waiter came to take our orders and whisk it away. opened by two brothers, sons of the man who owned the autoshop, the "kafe" serves typical greek food (and exotic teas apparently) along with other casual foods such as burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches. i ordered a shrimp pita with rice and salad. mike had the grilled veggie pita, also with rice and salad, and we shared some fries with feta (mike loves cheese). i think i would have preferred the fries smothered in garlic and/or parmesan rather than feta, but they were still really good and actually tasted like fried potatoes lightly seasoned. the grilled shrimp tasted fresh. the rice was bland, and the salad lacked some character.

i thought the interior was tasteful and clean, although the three huge lcd screens, two of which were broadcasting cnn, were out of character. the weirdest thing was the ceiling, which had way too many light fixtures, electrical outlets (what would you need ones in the ceiling for?) and power backups. it didn't bother me, but i really wanted to know what it all was for. mike seemed to think maybe they were friends with an electrician.

we will be back.