Cuzina Grill: Spartanburg, SC

At the suggestion of one of the readers of this blog, I made a drastic decision and headed out to find Cuzina Grill rather than my already planned out lunch destination. Not really knowing anything about this place as it is fairly new and not much is available on the interweb yet, I honestly had no idea what to expect. It is pretty much at the end of a crappy strip mall in the middle of nowhere on Main Street just before downtown Spartanburg and everything else on the other side of town. The outside doesn't leave much to the imagination nor does it invite you to stop and come it. But let me tell you, those that have stopped over the past two to three months they have been open for business, are continually stopping back almost everyday.

I walked into what appeared to be a very tiny restaurant and was greeted by the most outrageous (in a good way) person I have encountered in the semi-fast-food industry. I cannot even put thoughts to words, but it was an enjoyment and a lasting good first impression. I placed my order for a traditional pita sandwich with roasted leg of lamb. The pita is also served with tomato, onion, tzatziki sauce along with the most unusual item of them all, duck fat fries. Yes, they fry the fries in duck fat according to what is advertised. After you place your order, you are given a number on-a-stick and you find your own place to sit. Then a nice waitress brings you some silverware and will later deliver your food order for you. I thought this was a weird way to serve the restaurant as it is something I have never really experienced before, but it works well.

Now onto the food itself. I have not really every had authentic Greek food at an authentic Greek restaurant before, so the whole fries on my pita was new to me. Then again, where I grew-up, Greek food meant ordering a Gyro at the local sports bar when you could not eat anymore chicken wings and a burger wasn't going to work for you. I liked the idea of the fires on the Pita and eating it that way, but as I got about 2-3 bites into it, they quickly became soggy. No biggie, I just removed them so I could add some sriracha sauce to the entire thing and ate them on the side. The onions were not very present if any at all and I would have liked more of the tzatziki sauce. I guess lesson learned for later this week when I make my return.

As for my choice in the roasted lamb, WOW. Now that was some damn good roasted lamb. It was so tender and juicy that I ripped off part of my pita bread to soak-up the juices that I lost while eating. Sometimes roasted lamb can be either too sweet or can get dried-out when heated on the griddle, but not in this case. I would put money down that in a blind taste test of this lamb up against some $45 lamb chop from some over priced steak house, that Cuzina's roasted lamb would win hands down. I can only remember enjoying lamb that tasted this good on one occasion and that was roasted for a day over an open fire on a spit in some backyard.

Bottom line, Cuzina Grill has some serious good eats for a quick affordable lunch. At just over $7.00 for this pita served with fries, you will not find a more tasty lunch in a 5-10 mile radius for this price. I truly hope that this new restaurant establishes themselves quickly and will be here for years to come. They sure have are already gotten off to a good start already.