Alexis Greek Café
3863 Fifth Ave. (Hillcrest)
619-297-1777
Prices: Complete lunches, dinners and combo platters, $5.75 to $9.50

By Frank Sabatini Jr. | Restaurant Review

From nearly any table at Alexis Greek Café, the pedestrian parade that unfolds outside the windows makes for dynamic people watching. Curiously, many folks browse back with waves and smiles just as you might be sinking your maw into a slab of moussaka.

That attention, however, isn’t likely directed at you, but rather to longtime owner Jorge Salcedo, a reserved but delightfully animated guy whose steadfast presence in the semi-open kitchen is interrupted only when he doubles as a waiter.

Salcedo’s outgoing wife Margarita also waits tables occasionally and has generated her share of fanfare as well. At the very least, the couple’s popularity can be attributed to keeping meal prices below $10 since they took over the restaurant from its original founder more than 20 years ago.

Among the stellar lunch specials are pita sandwiches filled with gyros or falafel, and served with fries or salad plus a medium drink for $5.75. For dinner, entrees such as Greek-style chicken, plated gyros, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) and moussaka (beef and eggplant lasagna) sell for $8.50. To the surprise of newcomers, they include a feta-laced salad; classic avgolemano soup accented with lemon, chicken and rice; French fries; pita bread and the all-important tzatziki sauce mingling garlic and grated cucumbers.

The most expensive menu item is the well-endowed Mediterranean platter for $9.50. It yields decent portions of chicken souvlaki, spanakopita and gyros while also including the full list of sides. Consider it two meals in one.

In several visits to Alexis, at least one person in my group always submits to the “combination appetizer,” priced at $7.50. Share it or prepare to singly bust your belt on stuffed grape leaves, spanokopita, falafel balls, olives, hummus, warm pita and big chunks of creamy feta that tastes superior compared to the cheaper, overly brined varieties.

For a flaming good time, we always kick off our feast with saganaki, a pyromaniac’s dream dish consisting of buttery Kasseri cheese doused in brandy and then set ablaze for a few seconds before being extinguished with fresh-squeezed lemon. On a recent visit, the toasted aftermath and citrus overtones were particularly flavorsome.

Normally a stickler for falafel, which Alexis does well despite underplaying the tahini and lemon zest in the chickpea mixture, I chose the chicken kabob dinner instead. Though served on a single skewer, it was packed with at least eight juicy chunks of breast meat, seasoned mildly with the right amount of salt and perhaps oregano and onions in the marinade.

Another person at our table ordered the gyros plate featuring a heap of the beef-lamb shavings. In plate form, it requires a fast mouth because the meat tends to dry out quickly. I prefer it tucked into a pita sandwich, whereby the meat stays hydrated for the duration from tomatoes and tzatziki sauce.

Vegetarians have it easy here, considering that many Greek dishes such as dolmades, falafel and spanakopita are naturally meat free. Moussaka, which normally contains a couple layers of ground beef or lamb, is available without the meat while still maintaining its virtues from standard béchamel sauce and allspice.

Alexis’ menu also features standard American diner fare that doesn’t quite jive to the faded photographs of Greece hanging on the walls. Such items include charbroiled burgers, pork chops, BLT sandwiches and even fish and chips made with pollock.

As most of us boxed up our leftovers and left too full for dessert, we unanimously celebrated the low blow to our wallets, and with no coupon required. Additionally, with Salcedo calmly running the show by himself on this busy evening, we never for a second felt shortchanged on service.