Cuisine Review

Clinking symbols, dog-like yelps and plenty of skin startled us when a group recently went over the bay to try Poseidon’s Mediterranean restaurant. Located in a small strip center in Daphne, just north of the CVS (across from the Daphne Civic center), Poseidon’s has been open for a few months where LA Subs was located before.

The set-up is still rather like a deli, but comfortable, with plenty of windows, along with the “Tuscan Villa” wall mural, found in the Fingerhut catalog (item number H5984) for $99. The kitchen is open, lively and the chef friendly. It appeared to be family run and staffed, with an informed, pleasant and attentive wait staff.

Oh, yeah, the noise. It seems that every Friday and Saturday evening there is belly dancing – all over the space, entertaining at first, but for me the energetic voice curls wore me down. These ladies are hobbyists, not professionals. But they dance in unison well – and I only learned that evening that the dancing is not orchestrated, but there are leaders who improvise and the rest follow along. How mildly impressive.

As you might guess, the menu is enormous. For me the first true test of a place such as this is to choose the sampler platter. The sampler ($10) contains hummus, babaganouj (eggplant dip made with tahini), Grecian dip (cucumber yogurt sauce), cabbage roll, grape leaf roll, spinach pie, feta and mujadrah, all served with warm pita.

The hummus is tangier and lemony, full of garlic, smooth, pleasant and plentiful. The grape leaf roll was truly the best, because the leaves were fresh, not soggy or chewy, and did not fall apart. Flakey, crunchy with a moist filling, the spinach pie was superior and had been made soon before eating.

Mujadrah is a blend of rice, lentils, onions and spices, and while I normally would have skipped over this, it had a warm, mellow flavor. The only disappointment we had was the babaganouj as it was smoky, almost tasting like a cigarette ash. This was one of only two hiccups all evening. Other appetizers include tyropita, a blend of ricotta, asiago and fontina cheeses wrapped in filo and sautéed in garlic and olive oil; fried eggplant and fried, spinach or baked kibbi (seasoned beef, onions, pine nuts and special herb in a cracked wheat shell and fried).

Kabobs of any combination – chicken, beef, lamb, shrimp, fish and kafta (ground beef with herbs, spices and onion, grilled) are here. All of these are served over seasoned rice with grilled vegetables, hummus and feta salad (green salad with Greek dressing and feta). I did just notice here as I read my menu, that there are some Philadelphia-inspired items on the menu – an authentic Philly cheese steak called the Ben Franklin, a meatball sandwich and the Dean Martin, which is spicy or mild Italian sausage topped with homemade marinara, mozzarella cheese and toasted – strange, but they actually sound appealing. Maybe next time.

We all headed for the specialties. The meat mousaka is Lebanese lasagna with layers of eggplant, potato, ground beef, and mozzarella cheese in a homemade béchamel sauce. I have had this before, and it is filling, so I passed. Little did I know that I would be stuffed later on. My eye went immediately to the Combination Plate ($16) with gyro and chicken shawarma, hummus and rice. Chicken shawarma is chicken breast meat that has been marinated in their “secret blend” of spices herbs and seasonings, hand skewered (is there any other way?) and roasted on rotisseries, then carved. It has a slightly sweet flavor and the meat was well prepared.

Their gyro meat (lamb) is higher quality than typically found, thick and rich with flavor. One of my friends ordered Poseidon’s Plate ($16) with gyro, chicken shawarma, fried kibbi, mujadrah, grape leaf, cabbage roll, hummus and tabbouleh salad. Kibbi around here is usually found in small mounds, but here they are almost the size of a Legg’s pantyhose egg.

My friend raved over the taste. My plate, like all of ours, had way, way too much food. Each of us had enough for two meals. His tabbouleh salad was full of citrus and fresh parsley. Two lamb dishes, a lamb shank with grilled vegetables and lamp chops were appealing on the menu. I saw the large lamb shank pass by and would recommend this for two.

The only other disappointment, my friend ordered the Eggplant Royal ($17), a deep-fried eggplant boat stuffed with shrimp, fresh vegetables and topped with their special sauce. The special sauce was greasy, and the eggplant sunk in the sea of sauce. It did taste alright, and the shrimp were of nice size. I do recommend you eat here, just steer away from this item. The same item, sans shrimp is found in the vegetarian section of the menu. They also have a vegetarian plate, falafel plate (made from fresh ground vegetables, then fried), veggie kabob and pita. You can tell that there is plenty for everyone. There are some seafood items mostly a few fish selections broiled or fried.

The kitchen puts a lot of time, and care to all of their preparations. While our food was not out in a hurry, the time was just about right. And it was all good but for a few hiccups. We were all so full that none of us ate until well into the next day, and did not finish our meals. It fills the belly – although not enough for me to bare it and dance. In my opinion, it is the most worthy Mediterranean place around here.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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