Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Eat hearty, eat arty: gyros hit Coronado

Salah learned his art in Baghdad and Damascus. Check it out as you chomp cheap

Salah Jamel learned his art in Baghdad and Damascus.

Now he’s bringing it to life in Coronado.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41086/

I come across him inside Pizza and Greek Grill (933 Orange Avenue, Coronado, 619-435-4059).

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41085/

As I come in, he’s just painting his name...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41078/

...on the bottom-left-hand-corner of his way-big mural of Santorini. Thera. The ocean-filled crater where, they say, the fabled city of Atlantis disappeared. Talk about Big Bang theory. Whatever, there was a heckuvan explosion.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41077/

Santorini lives! in Coronado

On the opposite wall, Salah has painted the same-sized mural of the Akropolis, looks like. He didn’t have much time: “It was about two, three days for each,” he says.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41087/

Sam the food section assistant, in front of the Greek scene

The murals stop about four feet above the floor. “That’s the height of the benches,” he says. “This will be a restaurant.”

That’s what I’ve come for.

Food.

Because even before this place changed its name from "Coronado Bottle Store" to "Pizza and Greek Grill," you could get good-value Mediterranean food here. You just had to fight your way through the racks of likker to get to the food counter at the back.

I liked their prices. Like gyro sandwiches for under $5.

But no. Today, I want a plateful. One for Carla, one for me. For here, even though now eatin's limited to just a couple of black wire mesh tables outside.

So I tramp through a long concrete wasteland...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41080/

...past brown leatherette booths stacked against the walls, waiting to be set up in the front, till I get to the kitchen counter, and Sam.

“Uh we want to eat here,” I say. “That still okay?”

“No problem,” says Sam. “But outside. I can bring it out to you. Sorry for the mess.”

They have about ten plates going for $6.99 each, including a 1/2lb burger and fries (compare that to Burger Lounge prices across the road, $7.95, no fries). But I go for a beef and lamb gyros plate and Carla chooses the chicken souvlaki.

Kinda nice outside in the sunset, even with the construction going on inside. Sam brings the tray of plates. And hey, what you get for what you pay…so much on these plates.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41081/

Sam brings the plates

The gyro meat tastes rich.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41082/

You get the taste of lamb coming through. And the chicken has that nice charred tang.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41084/

Plus tasty basmati rice underneath the meat, and the grilled bits of skewered onion and tomato and green pepper mix well with the bowl of tzatziki - cucumber - sauce you get. And you have a nice tart dressing for the olive-raw onion-tomato-lettuce salad that lies under the chicken kabobs. Four quarters of pita bread tamp down the sharpness too.

Carla the history buff says souvlakis – meat on skewers - have been around at least 4,000 years. “I’ve seen firedogs that old,” she says, "in museums."

“‘Firedogs?’”

“Andirons, the carved chunks of metal or stone. You’d lay the skewers with meat chunks and veggies, whatever, across two of them with the fire in the middle.”

I swear. What this lady don't know... But funny to think people back then were eating exactly what she's eating today.

Lordy. Full. Both of us. I keep forgetting what value you get in these Mediterranean places. The guys here are Chaldean. When Sam asks how it is, I answer with the one Aramaic word I can remember:

“Randa! Good!”

Sam says they should be open as the full-on café with Salah's art in its finished glory around the middle of the month.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Scott Peters aide gets free travel and hotel from Big Pharma

Todd Gloria sucks up money from Big Billboards
Next Article

Ian Anderson’s apogees

The best eating of ten-ish years

Salah Jamel learned his art in Baghdad and Damascus.

Now he’s bringing it to life in Coronado.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41086/

I come across him inside Pizza and Greek Grill (933 Orange Avenue, Coronado, 619-435-4059).

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41085/

As I come in, he’s just painting his name...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41078/

...on the bottom-left-hand-corner of his way-big mural of Santorini. Thera. The ocean-filled crater where, they say, the fabled city of Atlantis disappeared. Talk about Big Bang theory. Whatever, there was a heckuvan explosion.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41077/

Santorini lives! in Coronado

On the opposite wall, Salah has painted the same-sized mural of the Akropolis, looks like. He didn’t have much time: “It was about two, three days for each,” he says.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41087/

Sam the food section assistant, in front of the Greek scene

The murals stop about four feet above the floor. “That’s the height of the benches,” he says. “This will be a restaurant.”

That’s what I’ve come for.

Food.

Because even before this place changed its name from "Coronado Bottle Store" to "Pizza and Greek Grill," you could get good-value Mediterranean food here. You just had to fight your way through the racks of likker to get to the food counter at the back.

I liked their prices. Like gyro sandwiches for under $5.

But no. Today, I want a plateful. One for Carla, one for me. For here, even though now eatin's limited to just a couple of black wire mesh tables outside.

So I tramp through a long concrete wasteland...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41080/

...past brown leatherette booths stacked against the walls, waiting to be set up in the front, till I get to the kitchen counter, and Sam.

“Uh we want to eat here,” I say. “That still okay?”

“No problem,” says Sam. “But outside. I can bring it out to you. Sorry for the mess.”

They have about ten plates going for $6.99 each, including a 1/2lb burger and fries (compare that to Burger Lounge prices across the road, $7.95, no fries). But I go for a beef and lamb gyros plate and Carla chooses the chicken souvlaki.

Kinda nice outside in the sunset, even with the construction going on inside. Sam brings the tray of plates. And hey, what you get for what you pay…so much on these plates.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41081/

Sam brings the plates

The gyro meat tastes rich.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41082/

You get the taste of lamb coming through. And the chicken has that nice charred tang.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/04/41084/

Plus tasty basmati rice underneath the meat, and the grilled bits of skewered onion and tomato and green pepper mix well with the bowl of tzatziki - cucumber - sauce you get. And you have a nice tart dressing for the olive-raw onion-tomato-lettuce salad that lies under the chicken kabobs. Four quarters of pita bread tamp down the sharpness too.

Carla the history buff says souvlakis – meat on skewers - have been around at least 4,000 years. “I’ve seen firedogs that old,” she says, "in museums."

“‘Firedogs?’”

“Andirons, the carved chunks of metal or stone. You’d lay the skewers with meat chunks and veggies, whatever, across two of them with the fire in the middle.”

I swear. What this lady don't know... But funny to think people back then were eating exactly what she's eating today.

Lordy. Full. Both of us. I keep forgetting what value you get in these Mediterranean places. The guys here are Chaldean. When Sam asks how it is, I answer with the one Aramaic word I can remember:

“Randa! Good!”

Sam says they should be open as the full-on café with Salah's art in its finished glory around the middle of the month.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reading the coffee grounds: Breakfast in Mission Beach

Next Article

Bye Bye Bino?

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader