This weeks restaurant is Pete's Family Restaurant in downtown Jamestown.
While spending a day running the innumerable 'catch all' errands up the hill, one tends to get hungry right between Sonora and Copper...luckily there is a variety of restaurants to choose from in Jamestown...a perfect midway point for a snack.
On just such an errand run I discovered Pete's. What was once Azzo's famous Italian restaurant is now an American and Greek cuisine eatery. It is a small restaurant tucked away along the main drag of Jamestown with little curb appeal but a menu worth a look.
Once inside with a nice glass of ice water my companion and I perused the expansive menu offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. New York Steak and eggs, omelets, pancakes and more on the breakfast side...but it was 2 in the afternoon...I would behave and eat a lunch even though my mouth was watering with the mere thoughts of waffles with fresh strawberries. On to the lunch menu.
Indeed there was a vast array of American eats like hamburgers and salads but what intrigued me were the items I could not pronounce let alone try to spell without the menu in front of me. Forget phonetics with some of these Greek words, but when in Greece....
I ordered a Greek plate with Pita bread, lamb gyro meat, tomatoes, klamata olives, cucumbers, dolmas, tzatziki and Spanakopitta (see why I needed the menu to rewrite this?). My buddy wanted to order a Rueben sandwich....nope...we were going Greek today!
Not sure what we had ordered we sat in nervous anticipation. When the plate was delivered we both must have looked a bit confused. I admit the only thing I recognized were the tomatoes and cucumber...so the patient waiter explained what each item was. Well, whats the point of trying something new if you're not going to dig in...so with napkin in lap I began to pile all the items on the pita, added a little of the tzatziki and voila a mouth watering, groan inducing, flavorful experience was the result.
Conversation died and we consumed everything on our plate. Oh and I almost forgot...we ordered the Portabello mushroom sauteed with fresh spinach, shallots, garlic and pancetta in a cream wine and butter sauce with crumbled feta on top. Divine! I'm pretty sure I ate more than half of that plate:)
These two items totaled less than $20 and filled two people full. The ambience is lacking as is the curbside appeal, however the chef knows how to create palate pleasing foods and the waiter was friendly, knowledgeable and service oriented.
All in all a good dining experience. I look forward to returning to try out their dinner menu.
Petes is located at 18228 Main Street, Jamestown 209-984-2077.
by,
Charity Maness
(My little disclaimer: 'To dine or not to dine' is meant to be a
helpful - and humorous - informational piece only. I receive no monetary
compensation for this column nor do I endorse any one eatery. This
is simply my opinion. My tastes will be different from others and I
readily admit that I have no culinary background, but I am fairly
confident I know when food is cooked correctly or not, whether a drink
is poured well or not and especially whether wait staff is
first-rate or in need of a career change.)
