SOUVLAKI GREEK.
If you are looking for a meal that is a somewhat cheaper than Chez Panisse, try Souvlaki Greek Traditional Foods at 2518 Durant (between Telegraph and Bowdich) near Sproul Plaza. They have the best Greek roasted chicken anywhere. The chicken is encrusted with Mediterranean herbs and then flame roasted until the skin of the chicken and the herbs are almost black. It is the best Greek roasted chicken anywhere. I get the 1/4 chicken plate, which is enough for me. They use large chickens. It comes with lemon sauce, salad, and french fries. The meal is very underpriced at just $4.00. I don’t know how they stay in business. The 1/2 chicken plate is $6.99. The lamb gyro plate is also very good. If you want dessert or a lighter meal, try the Greek yogurt, which comes with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and honey. My only complaint with this restaurant is the uncomfortable, flimsy seating. Souvlaki Greek doesn’t have a web site, but you can see their menu on their Facebook page at Souvlaki Greek.
GREEK RESTAURANTS IN BALTIMORE.
I ate a lot of Greek food when I was a kid growing up in Baltimore. My grandparents came to America from Odessa over 100 years ago. Odessa is on the Black Sea, and there is a strong Greek influence in the food and culture of the city. Tarses is a common name in northern Greece. My father used to take me and my sister Judy to Greek restaurants all the time. There were a lot of small, family-run Greek restaurants in downtown Baltimore in those days. Unfortunately, the sanitary conditions at these restaurants was often substandard. My father and I were willing to overlook that if the food was good, but my sister was not. She complained constantly about the unsanitary conditions at these greasy-spoon restaurants. Judy would say things like: ‘This table is sticky and smells bad’, ‘There are rat traps in the bathroom’, and ‘I don’t want to eat at restaurants where you have to shoo away the flies while you’re eating.’ Eventually, my father wound up leaving Judy at home when he and I went to restaurants that we both knew she would complain about. My sister still won’t eat at restaurants with rat traps in them, and now, neither will I.
Goat yoga is popping up everywhere. There are goat yoga studios all over the country now. There are several of them around the bay, including one in Berkeley. I do not understand goat yoga. What is the appeal of doing yoga exercises with a goat standing on your back? I don’t understand what the goats do or what benefit anyone receives from this. I heard about goat yoga just a couple of months ago at a magic convention in Las Vegas. When I first heard about it, I thought the guy who was telling me about goat yoga was pulling my leg, but he told me to check it out on Google, which I did, and I was amazed to discover that he was telling the truth. I looked at photos on Google of people doing yoga exercises with goats standing on them. I said to this guy: “I notice that the goats in these Google photos are not wearing diapers. Are these goats housebroken?” (You know what I mean.) He said: “I don’t know. That’s an interesting question.” Yes, that is an interesting question. If you are going to be doing yoga exercises with a goat standing on your back, it would be nice to know if the goat is toilet trained. But besides that, what do these goats do besides stand on your back – or your stomach? What is the point of this? As I said, I don’t get goat yoga. I’m not being coy. I really don’t get it. Don’t misunderstand me – I like goats. I petted a goat just recently at the Oakland Zoo. So did my sister. However, I had no desire for the goat to stand on my back, and as I recall, my sister didn’t express any desire for a goat to stand on her either. Can somebody explain to me what is the appeal of goat yoga? I don’t get it.
Update: BEER YOGA. I just got an Eventbrite invitation to go to a ‘Beer Yoga Session’ in San Francisco. See picture below. I just checked this out on Google. Beer yoga is now a real thing. There are dozens of beer yoga studios in the U.S. and Europe. This sounds almost as bizarre as goat yoga. Is anybody doing chocolate yoga?