Last week, my husband and I had a much needed date night.  As new parents, we definitely appreciate our time together and try to maximize it, but we also try not to splurge too much (diapers add up!).  Well, this date night was one of the best.  We got a good deal on tickets to see Wicked at the Pantages theater in Hollywood.  Wicked was the first musical my husband ever saw and the first musical we saw together; it’s definitely one of our favorites.  We thought about eating dinner at Cleo, but we knew we’d easily spend over $100 just on dinner, and that was more of a splurge than we were willing to make.  So, I did a little research (thank you, Yelp) and saw Feast.  Apparently, it used to be called Chicken Dijon.  I remember seeing Chicken Dijon before when seeing a play at the Pantages, but it never occurred to me to eat there.  It looked like fast food, like El Polo Loco or something, and I wanted to eat somewhere nicer (like Wood and Vine, which is right next door).  However, after I looked at the menu and the reviews on Yelp, Feast had zero strikes against it.  What I gathered was that it was a Greek restaurant, the style was what I think is called “fast casual” (where you order at the counter, get a number, choose a table, and they bring the food to your table for you), and the prices were around $10 per meal.  My husband in particular loves Greek food, so I definitely thought Feast was worth trying.

We parked, picked up our tickets at will call, and walked across the street to Feast.  It was a beautiful night, perfect California winter weather (meaning, you might need a sweater).  Most of the tables at Feast were occupied, but there were a few empty ones.  There wasn’t a line to order, so we looked over the menu and let the people who came in behind us order first.  We wanted to try a variety of things, and we always like to share, so in the end, we ordered the Gyro Fries, which are described on the menu as a “large order of fries tossed in olive oil, parsley, garlic and topped with feta cheese, pepperoncini, red onions, with chopped gyro meat on top. Substitute chicken upon request.”  We also ordered the 1/4 Chicken and Gyro Combo, which is described on the menu as “White or Dark meat Rotisserie bone-in chicken & slices of gyro meat. Includes 2 sides.”  We went with white meat, and for the sides, my husband chose Stuffed Grape Leaves and Falafel.  The grand total inlcuding tax and tip was less than $30.  Score!

 

We chose to sit at a bar height table right in the window, which probably meant that everyone walking by was watching us, but it also meant that we got to watch everyone who was walking by, and we could see the Pantages from our table.

I held the table while my husband got us water from the self-serve soda area.  Napkins and silverware were already on the table.

 

It didn’t take very long for our food to arrive.  Maybe 10 minutes or so.  I wasn’t really paying attention, but I think we arrived around 6:45pm, and I think we already had our food at 7pm.  The two huge plates of food barely fit on our table.  The waitress listed off the sauces they have available, and we said we wanted to try them all, so she brought a bottle of each over to our table.  Well, except for the BBQ sauce which wasn’t available at the time, so we tried that later.

So, what did we think?

Yum!

The fries were amazing, but, I mean, it’s hard to mess up fries, right?  They were evil.  (Guess that goes well when you’re about to see Wicket, haha.)  But, seriously, the fries were amazing.  The combination of everything on them was just incredible.  If I’m going to splurge on the fat and calories I’m sure are in all fries, these are definitely worth the splurge!

The combo plate was perfect for trying everything.  I really don’t know which meat I liked better.  The chicken was tender, juicy, flavorful, and just perfect.  No complaints.  We picked the bones clean.  The gyro meat was very flavorful, the perfect texture, and addictive.  If I had to choose only one meat, I’d choose the gyro just because you can’t get that everywhere and chicken is pretty common at restaurants, but since the combo plate is available, who needs to choose?

I wasn’t a huge fan of the sides, but they were my husband’s choice.  He used to be in the Air Force, and when he was stationed in Turkey, he ate stuffed grape leaves that tasted just like these.  It was kind of like a mouth full of lemony rice, and I’m not a huge rice person.  I let my husband eat them because he loved them.  The falafel was good for falafel.  I’m not a huge fan of falafel in general, but if you are, you’ll love it at Feast.  It wasn’t greasy, which was nice.

As far as sauces, our favorites were the Dijon Mustard and the BBQ.  We ate them with the chicken and the fries.

The meal also comes with your choice of pita bread or another kind of bread, but I can’t remember what the other bread was called.  We asked to have half and half so we could try both.  I liked the pita bread better, and next time I’d just get that.

We were stuffed, but it was impossible not to finish all of the food.  It was just so good!  Next time we should order less food.  Actually next time (probably when we see Newsies at the Pantages this Spring), I’ll probably get the combo plate and my husband might get the gyro and rice plate because after seeing that order at another table, he really wants to try the rice.

That’s another thing that’s great about Feast; it’s good for a group.  They have meals that are meant to be shared, like the Family Combo which is described on the menu as “1 whole chicken and 1 plate of sliced gyro meat. Includes a choice of 4 sides. Perfect for 4-6 people.”  You could totally order that, but the normal meals are plenty big for 2 people to share if you’re not super hungry or if you want to save room for dessert after the show.

Thanks, Feast, for a great pre-show meal!  It certainly was a delicious Feast!

Update: I believe Feast has permanently closed.