Until this afternoon, it had been awhile since Bill and I last enjoyed Greek food.  Unlike our former neighborhood in Unterjettingen, our current house isn’t within spitting distance of several Greek restaurants.  Sure, there are plenty of Greek restaurants up this way, but they aren’t clustered near us, and the ones that do exist don’t all have all day hours or even lunch hours.

Nevertheless, Bill managed to find a great Greek place in Erbenheim, a charming little hamlet not far from Clay Kaserne.  Der Grieche turned out to be a great pick for lunch, although we had a challenge trying to find parking near it.  Fortunately, there was a free spot open right by the Rathaus and the restaurant has its own tiny lot, though it was full of cars today.  Apparently, this is a popular Greek place.  Most of the tables were full when we arrived at about 1:30pm.

Near the Rathaus in Erbenheim.  It’s quite quaint!

And look!  They make cleaning up after your dog a cinch! 

We were seated at a comfortable four top next to the beautifully decorated Christmas tree.  I was taking note of the charming building and how well maintained it appeared to be.  I was glad to see it, since this area does not seem to have as many beautiful old buildings at Baden-Württemberg does.  I asked Bill if Hesse got bombed a lot in World War II, since I don’t see as much old architecture here as I did near Stuttgart.

I was really in the mood for gyros, so that’s what I decided to have.  Bill went with the Hähnchenspießen– grilled chicken on a metal spit with peppers and onions.  Both dishes came with t’zatziki and salad.  Bill had pommes and I had patates– although I was supposed to get tomato rice.  I think our very charming waiter took one look at me and thought to himself, “There’s a woman who likes potatoes.”  He got one of my winsome grins when he asked me if I’d prefer those.

Obligatory shot of Bill, looking handsome as ever.

Both of our dishes came with this salad, full of kraut, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, a single black olive and a single pepper.  The dressing was the usual yogurt dressing Germans seem to like.  Personally, I prefer less dressing than this, but it was a nice start to the meal.

I almost ordered the chicken spit myself, but Bill decided to have it.  He said it was delicious.  I tried it and agree.  The chicken was very juicy and flavorful and looked festive next to the colorful peppers and onions.

The gyros were also very good.  They were well-seasoned and juicy and I loved the potatoes.  The t’zatziki was also very good and matched beautifully with the pork.

It was nice to see all of the families out today, enjoying each other’s company.  I noticed the people behind us got chocolate mousse, which I didn’t see on the menu.  I was tempted by it, but decided we’d had enough calories…  so we called for the check and had our ouzo…

And then our charming waiter brought us chocolate mousse, anyway.  I have to say, that really put a smile on my face!

The total bill was about 41 euros.  Bill topped up the waiter to 45 euros, not realizing that he’d stuck an extra 20 in there.  The waiter noticed it and gave it back to Bill.  I mused that in America, the waiter probably would have just grabbed the cash without looking.  I was left with a very good impression of Der Grieche after lunch, but it improved after that little mistake was pointed out to us.

We’re going to visit again…

They have a Biergarten, too.

Actually, Erbenheim has some possibilities, even if it sucks to have to park there.  This whole area is loaded with cars and not enough parking spots.

After lunch, we went to AAFES to buy a lamp and a couple of other necessary items, as well as to gas up my car.  Now that we’ve had our Sunday fun, I’m going to buy a couple more bookshelves so I can put the finishing touches on straightening out our living quarters.  My next project is to unload our horrible futon and get a real couch.  Interestingly enough, when I searched for “couch” on Amazon.de, I came up with one very interesting and unexpected result.  I’ll let you discover it if you’re interested, but be prepared.  It’s not exactly safe for work.