Just got back from a great late lunch at A.J.'s Gyro Cafe. Tucked into a corner of the Highlander Point Shopping Center in Floyds Knobs, Indiana it was a short 20 minute drive from the wilds of North Oldham County. Walking in we were greeted by our server, Victoria, who indicated we should sit where we like. The inside has a few tables but the perimeter all around the room has long, comfortable booths. The floor has an attractive black and white offset tile which gave the room a comfy warmth welcome on this day. My wife, son and son's best bud were ready to get our Greek on.
We started with two orders of saganaki and drink orders. Fresh strong brewed iced tea was a great surprise. A lot of places have either gone canned or fountain which is a crime for good tea.
Saganaki arrived in short order. Nicely golden brown with a slight toothsome crunch and served with a lemon wedge. We missed the flavor imparted by flaming it with a shot of brandy but Victoria explained that with no liquor license that is a no go. The dish was very good without the pyrotechnics.
Hummus and pita was a good portion of very smooth chickpea puree. Good balance of garlic, lemon juice and salt. The consistency was the star as you find alot of very coarse hummus and I like my chickpeas very well ground. The pita was in triangles, toasted to a fine crunch able to stand up to scooping.
For the mains, three of us ordered the lamb/beef gyros with fries and my beautiful bride settled on the greek salad.
Again, the meal arrived in very good time. The gyros had a more than ample serving of the sliced gyro meat. Onion, lettuce, tomato and tzatziki sauce nicely packed the toasted flatbread. All of it wound in the obligatory wax paper to keep it off your shirt, shoes and lap. The tzatziki was not overpowered with garlic and had just the right amount of dried herb in it.
The fries were long cut, thinner than steak fries and thicker than shoe strings and were the way I like them, not too crisp and delicious without any other condiment.
The Greek salad had good size chunks of feta, pitted kalamata olives, cucumber and tomato. I just managed to filch a single olive as Cindy was guarding the plate closely.
Everyone was very satisfied with their meal and we managed to say Hi to Alison on our way out. She was very pleasant to chat with. All in all, well worth the nice autumn drive to find out that really good Greek food is close by.
We will be back to sample some of the other greek goodies very soon.
As we drove away we noticed that A.J's also has a drive through window and I was glad that we didn't live close by, my waistline couldn't take it!