Our Hometown
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Greetings from Guam "If you're going to America, bring your own food." - Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951), U.S. journalist. From Fran Lebowitz's Travel Hints (1981). Yeah, well, I bet old Fran has never eaten at Zizikis Greek restaurant in Dallas! On my way back to Guam, I stopped in Dallas for a couple of days to visit an old friend from my high school days, Lisa Cushman (VanQuekelberg), whom I had not seen in nine years. After we got up to speed on our respective lives, we got down to business - where to go out to eat. Seeing that this was my first time in the Lone Star state, the first night we did the obligatory Tex-Mex thing at a restaurant called, appropriately enough, Desperado's. It was good, but not anything to storm the Alamo over. I kept expecting to see Josey Wales mosey around the corner at any moment. Our Mexican-American waiter was good and added to the authenticity of the southwestern motif. I did confuse him momentarily, when I told him that I was from Guam and asked if I could pay with coconuts. (He really liked that one; every time he walked by he would look at me and laugh.) I think I ordered something that the menu described as hot and spicy...well, let me just say that Texas ain't got nothing on Guam when it comes to hot and spicy food! We have these wild red peppers here that we call boonie peppers, which are really small and really hot - I'm talking thermonuclear hot! You have to pick these things wearing one of those self-contained biological contamination suits. I once saw a guy pick one and sniff it and his nose hairs spontaneously combusted...okay, I didn't actually see it myself, but I heard about it from a reliable source in a seedy bar at four in the morning. The point is that, after living on Guam for three years, Texas hot and spicy tasted more like vanilla pudding. (Sorry about that detour, but we Guamanians take our hot food seriously.) The next day was spent like any other day between two good friends who had not seen each other in nine years. We poured through our old year book, raked the lawn, reminisced about homecoming, renovated her daughter's bedroom, talked about the ten-year reunion (which I skipped), paved the driveway, and more or less chatted idly about the good old days. Then we got down to business - where to go for dinner that night? Lisa gave me two choices - Italian or Greek food. That was a no-brainer - I hadn't had Greek food in over three years. If you want Greek food on Guam, you have to eat a book by Aristotle. Then just to cement my decision, she told me that another friend from high school, Phil Natale ( a couple years behind us), manages a Greek restaurant there in Dallas. Now, the last time I saw Phil, had to be about fifteen years ago, and he was a skinny underclassman. So, now we show up at Zizikis and I see Phil and the first thing that goes through my head is, "Oh my God, I hope I was nice to him in high school. Who's the skinny twerp now, Jim? Yeah, I really need to start working out again." It's nice to have connections, especially when you are at a fine restaurant staring at a forty-five minute wait for a table - thanks Phil. So we start to peruse the list of appetizers: MEDITERRANEAN PITA BREAD: Handmade pita brushed with virgin olive oil and topped with Grecian herbs, tomatoes, Feta cheese and fresh basil. SPANAKOPITA: Leaf spinach, baked with sweet onions, Feta cheese and wrapped in fillo pastry. DOLMADES: Grape leaves stuffed with seasoned rice, served on a bed of marinated onions. ARTICHOKE DIP & PITA BREAD: A Greek hummus, made of artichokes, chickpeas and garlic. Topped with olive oil and served with pita bread. CALAMARI: Seasoned with Grecian herbs and sweet basil, lightly sauteed in olive oil, white wine and lemon. (I hope you are all drooling, I know I am.) Phil came by the table as we were struggling with our decision and said he would fix us a small sampler platter. Let me just say that his concept of small and my concept of small are not one in the same . (Thanks, Phil for my Dolmades and Spanakopita breakfast, which beats the hell out of Continental's in-flight fried egg sandwich!) Then our main courses: SHRIMP SOUVLAKI: Skewered marinated prawns grilled and served on handmade pita topped with tomatoes, Feta, fresh basil, Ziziki and Mary's sauce (not exactly sure what the sauces were, other than very Greek and very good). PASTICHIO: The Greek lasagna! Chopped lamb baked with tomatoes, onions, cheese and herbs, blended with macaroni pasta. Throw in a nice Merlot, say perhaps a Raymond Reserve (Napa 95) and then an evening-end cup of coffee and I thought I had died and gone to Athens! If any of you New Yorkers or Guamanians are ever in Dallas, make a point to eat at Zizikis. You will thank me a thousand times over, as will your taste buds. And if you do go and there is a long line, just seek out the tall, fit, and good looking guy working there and tell him that the crazy skinny twerp from Guam recommended the place. (Still not convinced? Check out their web site. I'm planning on going to back to Dallas in the spring just to eat there again - for seven nights in a row - and then float back to Guam. Hafa Adai Copyright © 2000 |
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