Armenian pizza and my employment

Today I was looking to bring home some lunch for me and Rowan and ended up on Patterson, near Libbie. For about two blocks heading east there's about six or so restaurants, all of which have some pretty tasty food. And what some may lack in taste they make up for in sheer "I can't believe there's still places like this"-ness.

Case in point: Philip's Continental Lounge. It's not Continental, there's no way you could lounge in there, and I'm seriously doubting the existence of anyone named "Philip". But on the plus side the only thing that's changed on their menu since 1962 is the introduction of Jalapeno Poppers and Chips & salsa. And that includes the photos (sorry about the quality, just click em to see the full-size versions).

Sweitzer cheese, anyone? Come on, the only people who say Sweitzer cheese anymore are little old guys who wear checkered pants and people from Baltimore.

Rowan and I have been there a few times and it's never disappointed. It's the kind of place where every dish comes with parsley and the Deluxe Salad is based upon a bed of cold, crisp iceberg lettuce. I'm fairly certain I had the flounder last time I went, as I tend to judge places by the quality of their fried fish.

A lot of people won't get fried fish at restaurants like this, I think they think it's gross or something. But it's not like I'm eating raw oysters off a dashboard; I'd be more worried about getting sick from an undercooked burger than from a piece of fish that's been sitting in sizzling hot oil. Plus there's always malt vinegar, which is an excellent food antiseptic.

But this isn't about Philip's, this is about Bakery Art (5716 Patterson).

Rowan and I passed this place the other day while driving around and, while we thought forever that it was a cake bakery, it's now (or always has been?) an Armenian bakery/grocery.

In any event the food rocked pretty hard. I got a couple of Armenian pizzas with lentils & rice, hummus, and cucumber salad. Everything was awesome.

It's all cold when you get it, but they'll heat it up if you ask. I just took it all home and did it myself in about ten minutes (just the pizzas and lentils). The hummus is pretty much hummus, but without too much lemon, which is good. A lot of store-bought hummus' (hummi?) have way too much lemon for some reason.

The lentils & rice were pretty mushy, like a thick mushiness on the order of mashed potatoes. Personally I really like that; much better than loose rice and lentils going all over the place. When warmed they are very warming and...

Okay a day has passed between me starting this entry and now. In the meantime, in the middle of that last sentence, I was made aware that I was likely to be laid off next week as there is no more work coming up for me to do (I'm a consultant).

I was pretty freaked out and I called up a contact to ask about a previous job I was offered elsewhere and this afternoon I found out the other job was still open, so I've accepted that offer. Probably the shortest amount of time between me losing and then finding another job ever. Well, nothing's set until I sign the contract, but it's looking very good. Anyways, back to the story.

Hummus good. Lentils pretty tasty. Cucumber salad rad. Armenian pizza rocked hardest. It's a flat-bread thingy covered with superfine minced beef and loads of paprika. I got the non-spicy version and if that's considered "not spicy" I'd like to have a word with whoever controls the definition of the word "spicy". Cooking it made the house smell like a Middle Easter bazaar, which is a welcome change from the usual lingering scent of dog fart.

All in all I'd definitely go there again. And now that I have another job lined up (knock wood), I'll actually be able to.