Food & Drink May 4, 2011 at 4:00 am

The "Elevated Street Food" of Golden Beetle—or, Can a Twenty-Dollar Gyro Possibly Be Worth It?

And her mosaic-covered wood-fired oven. Kelly O

Comments

1
My dinner partner and I agreed that our gyros were well on the salty side. I didn't notice the salt on the tuna but only had a bite of it. What I really liked was the baklava. Most baklava is way too sweet for me to finish, but theirs was spot on.

The restaurant was fine, the lanterns were great, but when my choice is between a week of meals at Rancho Bravo or one meal at Golden Beetle...
2
The muhammara - the walnut/pomegranate molasses dip - is my favorite of the dips. The three dips and flatbread works really well between a few people.

And, despite being open ridiculously late for Ballard, it's rarely crowded. I'm actually kind of worried about it. But I guess the prices, coupled with the likely low rent for what's been a cursed space (RIP Via Verde and Market Street Grill, neither of which I ever tried, and which I suppose could have failed because they weren't very good), leave it with a pretty healthy margin of error.
3
The space is far from cursed. Market Street Grill operated from 2001 or earlier until 2008, despite changes in partnership/ownership. That's not a bad run for a restaurant. Reviews were mixed over the years, but overall, the food was very good.

It is a bit off the main beaten path for Ballard strolling - but that makes parking easier!

4
Did Bethany Jean vomit a little in her mouth after writing this? I know I did after reading it.
5
How would you compare their baklava to that served in Turkey or France?

I find most American baklava is too sweet, except in some of our local Greek restaurants.

That said, $20 is still too much for a gyro.
6
I love that the "TWENTY-DOLLARS-FOR-A-GYRO?!" crowd are the ones being made out to be the pretentious ones... ;)
7
This sounds like a bunch of yuppie, elitist, grown-up trustafarian bullshit, typical of NW lefty all-natural sentiment. You give liberals a bad name.
8
I love Tilth as an occasional splurge, and was soooo excited for Golden Beetle... until I saw the prices. No doubt it's delicious; one could possibly argue that it's "worth" it. But frankly, I think Ms. Hines could show a bit more humility in this instance.

Most of this fare was inspired by street vendors she visited in the Eastern Mediterranean region. In my estimation, it's an affront to take such fresh and super-cheap food this far up the 'upscale'. (At the very least, Hines could offer a two-hour happy hour in the afternoon, rather than the miserly 60 minutes.)

The folks at Revel understand this perfectly with their fancy take on Asian comfort food... Nothing on the menu eclipses $15, and the response is unanimously favorable: http://mr.fusspot.net/lEY93o

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