Wiggling around Denton to find some of the more interesting places to eat, led us to the International Food of Denton establishment. Located in the strip mall on Sunset Drive – it is not an easy place to find. Even once Kevin parked the car, Russ was heard asking, “Is this the right place?” and Russ had selected this establishment. This entity was a small hybrid eatery comprised of a Middle East grocery store and a few café style tables on the other side of the room. Warmly greeted we selected a table for four under the intertwined grapevines that spiraled everywhere on the ceiling. As the upbeat ethnically appropriate music played, we were handed the one-page menus. Interestingly we all read the front sides and flip them over to see if there were any other offerings. The menu listed many familiar looking dishes seen on the Yummy’s menu – (Greek restaurant up the street) – however a few of the dishes names were spelled differently – ahhh the intrigue. After placing our drink and appetizer orders, we launched into our typical conspiracy theory discussions:

Straight from the Iowa caucuses – Dick Gephardt was told by the Democratic National Party to exchange negative blows with Howard Dean to slow the momentum of the Dean campaign. Gephardt accomplishes the goal and drives Dean into a miserable third place finish in Iowa allowing more palatable candidates – Kerry and Edwards to gain momentum. Upon reflection Gephardt is disgusted with himself and withdraws from the presidential race. As his guilt consumes him – he withdraws completely from politics – thinking this is not why he got into public service.

Madonna and other celebs are backing the paper thin presidential hopeful Wesley Clark. These high profile celebs are secretly prodded by non other than Bill and Hillary Clinton. The Clintons understanding that Clark has not a snowballs chance of beating Bush – wish for Bush to win boosting the Dems chance of securing the White House in 2008. And who could be a better Democratic candidate than Hillary! Go Clark Go.

Oh yea the food. The appetizer was a good presentation of baba ganoush with grilled pita bread. The three fellas ordered three Gyro dinners and Gloria ordered a vegetable plate, which she selected by speaking the name of the dish fluently. The gyro dinners were introduced with a Greek salad that was tangy and vinegary. We all praised the flavor combination of the salads and were educated as to what was in the seasoning shaker at our table. At first we thought it was coffee grounds and later were told it was a bitter spice used to sprinkle on dishes. The entrees arrived scoring high in presentation. Gloria’s plate was visually enticing however the three boys were short changed with the amount of pita bread and were forced to swoop in on Gloria’s stash. There was only one plate of small wedges, which we all dived into. Henry finally asked, “Are those community pitas?” The basmati rice was good and had yellow grains that added fun to the meal. Kevin was content with his meal but stated that Yummy’s gives bigger portions. Anytime you eat Greek with Kevin be prepared to listen to his quest and fantasy of having a rack of the lamb meat used for gyros. Kevin wants to host a gyro party and grill his own “log o lamb”. By the end of the meal, the boys had cleaned their plates and Gloria had made a smiley face with the left overs on her plate. Gloria did mention that the server “did not even smile at her happy face”. The consensus at the table being that one can get similar food at Yummy’s in larger portions for the same price. We paid our checks, meandered through the grocery section and left. After 5 minutes of driving the only item resonating with any of us was the peppy Middle Eastern music – which leads me to say the food was less than memorable. If you want Middle East/Greek food travel elsewhere – if you need Middle East/Greek groceries – give it a shot.