Volume CXXXII, Number 4 October 4, 2002 f

My big, fat Greek restaurant
KERRY ELSON
COLUMNIST

The Kitchen offers Greek specialties at a reasonable price and an excellent location in downtown Brunswick. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient)

Garfield the Cat cannot go without food for ten minutes. His furry, tangerine belly must be constantly satiated by lasagna or cherry pie. Is there ever a time when Garfield isn't hungry? Has he ever sullenly pawed away a plate of provisions? Would he ever want to go without food? No! Such principles also apply to this Foodie; she is always ready for a tasty treat. Readers can only imagine her disappointment to find that her Jerk Chicken Wrap from Brunswick's The Kitchen filled her for eight hours! She couldn't touch a Bowdoin Express PB&J; she just didn't want it. The wrap's heavy ingredients stubbornly sat in her stomach and refused to make room for anything else.

Despite her discontent, the Foodie would readily return to the sunny eatery to see if any of the other offerings are quite as filling. Washes of purple, turquoise and yellow splash the walls of the church basement, which accommodates for its underground location by having several large street-side windows to let in light. There is plenty of space in the lot for a large group to slide tables together and have an inexpensive lunch or dinner outing.

The Kitchen offers American and Greek specialties, such as vegetable wraps, chicken burritos and beef gyros, as well as pizza and calzones. It's a basic neighborhood sandwich shop that has enough charm to win over Bowdoin parents, who will then characterize all of Brunswick as cute and funky because they had a pretty good sandwich in a café with purple walls.

Diners receive a lot of food for their money. Ten minutes after placing her order, the Foodie found a foot-long whole-wheat tube before her. Inside the tortilla, which was warm and crisp at its edges, was brown rice, chicken, lettuce and tomato, all dressed with an imitation jerk sauce. The Kitchen certainly tried to emulate the Carribbean favorite, but the sauce was dominated by cinnamon and further lacked heat or hints of other requisite flavors such as thyme and garlic. The Foodie admits that the wrap was good but it certainly not a "jerk;" it was more of a tolerably polite Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie Spice chicken wrap. Perhaps the Foodie shouldn't have ordered something so "ethnic," but rather have trusted the more American specialties such as pizza or a veggie burger, which also might not have filled her to the brim!

The Kitchen holds promise, but it certainly hasn't joined the ranks of Wild Oats, Scarlet Begonias and Shere Punjab as one of Brunswick's Best. The Foodie's search for fine food continues….