Spartan Souvlaki

image courtesy of The Porkchop Express

A few weeks ago, some friends and I trekked all the way to Dyker Heights, Brooklyn for dinner. Tom had read about Spartan Souvlaki on the blog, The Porkchop Express. Apparently every Saturday they roast two whole pigs! The last time I had roast pig was at someone's house in Boston and they dug a pit in the backyard and cooked the pig in it for hours (it sounds disgusting, but it was good). We were all very excited.

Sarah and I got there a little after Tom and Gina. They had already ordered some appetizers, a spinach pie, a cheese pie, and some sausage. Since everything there is made to order, it takes awhile to come out, but it's definitely worth the wait. The pies were especially good, not too crispy, and cooked to perfection. It was akin eating comfort. We were trying to figure out what was in the cheese one because it tasted both sweet and salty - the waitress told us it was a combination of feta cheese and ricotta.

Just as we were gearing up to order a plate of roast pig, the waitress told us that they had run out and that ideally, we should get there between 5 and 7pm (who eats at 5pm?) next time. But that was the whole point in coming! For the pig!

As we were looking at the menu to decide what else to order, George, the owner, came over with a small plate of roast pig. He said it wasn't much, but since we made the journey for it, he thought we should at least taste some.

How nice is that? The roast pig was delicious, moist, juice, rich and not overly flavored so that you can taste the pork (according to The Porkchop Express the only seasoning is some oregano-seasoned salt). Apparently, if we had received a proper plate it would have included pork from all parts of the pig.

The rest of the dinner (a gigantic tomato salad, grilled octopus, lamb and chicken kebabs) was also amazing. It all felt a bit surreal, sitting outside surrounded by ivy eating great food and in a part of Brooklyn I would never venture to.

When we got the bill, it seemed a bit low for all the food we had ordered. Then we realized that the waitress hadn't charge us for the appetizers. Since everyone at the restaurant was so nice (and we got a free plate of pork), we told her. She was very grateful.

We certainly didn't want karma to kick us in the butt later on, especially if we wanted to (and are definitely going to) go back to Spartan Souvlaki. It was a trek, but it was worth it.



Spartan Souvlaki
6820 8th Avenue
Dyker Heights, Brooklyn
(718) 748-5838
Monday-Saturday: 11:30am-10pm

Cash only