After a day of shopping in Old Town, I left lunch in the capable hands of my friend KS. She settled on Old Towne Deli, a shabby little luncheonette on Washington Street. Admittedly, I was a bit worried as to what could possibly be redeeming about this place; I was expecting just a laundry list of cold and hot sandwiches and maybe a few standard issue salads. While those items do comprise the bulk of the menu, buried on subsequent pages of the menu were a couple of Greek deli surprises.
KS’s choice was one of these specialties called Our Famous Salad Sampler. The description didn't seem too remarkable (a simple salad with or without chicken), but her brave choice inspired me to find out what other specialties this place was hiding. Toward the end of the menu, I discovered their Athenian Chicken, confirmed by the cashier and a customer as being one of the most popular dishes. It involves several pieces of grilled chicken on a bed of yellow (saffron?) rice with pita, tzatziki (a light yogurt and dill sauce), and a small Greek salad. Though the chicken could have been more flavorful and much juicier, the meal really hit the spot, and the tiny salad was surprisingly refreshing.
KS’s salad on the other hand, was out of this world. In fact, the boring “salad sampler” moniker was totally misleading. The salad is actually a Mediterranean specialty called fattoush, which is a basic salad of Romaine lettuce, tomato, cucumber, green pepper and vinaigrette that is then enhanced with toasted pita chips and a boatload of sumac, a very mild sour burgundy-colored spice. It was so simple, but absolutely delicious and executed with the freshest ingredients, including a lemon herb vinaigrette. Diners have the option of ordering it with chicken, but KS improvised off-menu style by specially requesting the gyro meat (despite my initial skepticism). Ordinarily, I would consider it high sacrilege to top a fattoush salad with gyro meat, or any other meat for that matter, but the gyro meat was tender and tasty and actually went well with the hearty salad.
On my next trip, I will definitely get my own fattoush salad and also sink my teeth into the giant wedge of homemade baklava I saw chilling as I waited for my meal.
After a lazy afternoon of bumming around Old Town,
try an outstanding fattoush salad at:
Old Towne Deli
109 N. Washington Street
Alexandria, Virginia
(703) 836-8028
—AK
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