Mediterranean Deli

Saturday May 1st 2010
Mediterranean Deli, Cedar and S 6th, Minneapolis, MN

There is something very appealing about the Gyro to me. It's an irresistible attraction, possibly caused by minor hypnotism due to the slow rotation of the meat log against the backdrop of hot red coils. Something about watching the Gyro vendor taking their blade to the log, shaving off long strips of meat, revealing an inner shade, and tossing it carelessly on a grill for a few minutes, theres a simple magic to it. Not to mention the feeling of complete satisfaction experienced after eating one.
Minneapolis's Cedar Towers are two gigantic high rise apartment buildings, more on the project side of things than the condo side. Actually way more towards the project side, and apparently used to house a predominant hippy population until the 90's when there was an influx of Somalians and Northern Africans to the area who claimed the towers for themselves. And thank goodness, because without them this neighborhood would likely be a trendy mess of bulk grain co-op's and dopey stoners playing hakky sack on the sidewalk. There is a little bit of that element here still, but the majority of businesses are African oriented. All kinds of interesting markets, hookah salesmen, bizarre looking "East African Style" coffee shops, and restaurants like the Mediterranean Deli.

Unfortunately for you this was by far not the most adventerous or exciting choice of restaurant we had at our disposal, but I was looking for a Gyro and I got one. This was sort of like a Gyro platter, the pita was laid flat and acted as a bed for the stack of meat, lettuce, tomato, and full hosing of cucumber Tzatziki sauce. I had to eat about a quarter of it with a fork before I could fit most of it in the pita and eat with my hands, which even with that quarter missing was a sloppy challenge, and the medium size nonetheless.
A Philadelphia section was included in their menu which was listed like this: "Philly Cheese Steak", "Gyros Philly" (yes, pluralized), "Chickens Philly", and "Fish Philly", all followed up by "Sambusa". We had a lot of questions we didn't know how to phrase and they went unanswered.
Minneapolis is the kind of place I'd like to come to for a full week with a thick wad of cash and just go walking around buying funny food. This is a regular fish sandwich.