palmyra....mediterranean on the go

Working from home can be great! You get to stay in your lounge around clothes, listen to music without headphones, grab food from the kitchen--until you realize, there is no food in the kitchen. But, since I am at home, seems like a good chance to order in from different spot from all our usual standbys. That means no pizza, Indian or Chinese.

This time I'm also trying out Amazon's restaurant delivery to see if it is any different. And honestly, looking at the choices, not really. Many of the same places on GrubHub are also here. Still, I scroll through all of them till I land on Palmyra, a place in the Lower Haight I can't say I've heard of but looking at their menu, prices are pretty reasonable and the food seems moderately healthy so why not. And while I'm at it, I will just get enough to have leftovers for me and the SO. That's a plan!

Here we have something called a kibbi. A shell of mashed cracked wheat stuffed with ground beef, onions and pine nuts then deep fried. Now the menu I saw was on Amazon's site and the description it gave was all in plurals. So I thought for $2.25 I was getting a couple, but actually only got one. Somewhat confusing, yet I did like it and wished I'd had more. It has this great nutty flavor with a small side of sweet from the onion, like a stuffed hush puppy. It isn't that big though and maybe 3 for 5 might have been a better offer. Which seems you can kind of get through them but not on Amazon. Still, pretty tasty small bite.

Spinach pie, thick layers of spinach, cheese and olive oil wrapped in phyllo dough. And for $5, you get a fairly big and heavy slab of it. It's good, though better once you heat it up. It is a little lighter on the cheese than some others I've had, but hearty and filling enough you could make a meal out of just this.

Okay, so I saw moussaka listed on the menu and the description said tomatoes and eggplant. Now when I see moussaka I think of this. And the fact it was $6, I thought "I'll take it." Then it arrives and it is exactly what the description was and you see above. A bowl of stewed tomatoes and eggplant. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it isn't what one thinks when they hear moussaka. At least not me. Needless to say, I was underwhelmed. The SO liked it as a leftover when scrambled with some eggs.

Five falafels with cucumber tomato salad, hummus and pita bread for $8. Have to say, this was a good price and you do get quite a bit of food. The falafels are like mini donuts. Nice crispy crust outside and soft inside. It is a thick bite of chickpea, parsley, garlic, a little black pepper and other stuff. Very nicely done. The salad was also fresh and crisp. The hummus has a lovely garlic kick and was great as a dip for the falafels. Also had enough to make a meal the next day.

Half a roast chicken with salad, hummus and pita bread for $9. Again, a pretty nice portion size for the price and more than enough to make two meals out of. The chicken was still warm when it arrived, a plus. It is rotisserie chicken so it was juicy and fell right off the bone. Parts of the skin were just a little crispy with a nice seasoning of salt, olive oil and black pepper. It was all as good as it looks in the pick.

Here is another thing where I read the description and thought, ooh, that sounds good. Kunafa, shredded cheese and phyllo dough baked together then covered in a honey syrup and pistachios for $2.50. I saw cheese and baked and thought it would be something sweet and gooey. It was more like coconut in texture and I really couldn't tell this was cheese. This is one of those dessert that you either like or you don't. The baked part is not sweet but the syrup is. Kind of like a sugar syrup mixed with honey. I'm not going to judge this from my taste bud stand point. It is a traditional Middle Eastern dessert and it is probably light and refreshing and great to not weigh you down in hot weather. I'd rather be in a cake sugar coma. Not my thing, but then I don't really like baklava either.

As a whole though, Palmyra was quite good. The portions and prices are decent and there seemed to be more than enough to make several meals out of what I got. They are a great alternative to ones usual choice of pizza, Indian or Chinese. And a couple of menu description mis-readings aside, I would recommend giving them a try delivery wise. Or, you know, if you find yourself in the Lower Haight for whatever reason (no judgement!) stop in and get a healthy bite of Mediterranean.