# New restaurant trend "Mediterranean" assembly line **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820 "2017-04-05T15:57:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/41 "2017-04-07T15:07:39Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Had to look up “tony.” Is this a common word? Or is it regional? I’d call it common. Just shorthand for _high-toned_, and carrying some of the negative “elitist” connotations of _posh_ and, since the early Obama days, _fancy._ ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/42 "2017-04-07T15:08:32Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Had to look up “tony.” Is this a common word? Or is it regional? So far I can see, “tony” is very common slang for “fancy” or expensive. It’s the kind of thing you would see in celebrity gossip magazines—“a tony Manhattan apartment.” ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/43 "2017-04-07T15:11:58Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Had to look up “tony.” Is this a common word? Or is it regional? It is somewhat common all over the U.S. in my experience. It just means fancy things usually reserved for the rich and stylish. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/44 "2017-04-07T15:12:52Z")
> [@quimper](#): > > “Mediterranean” is a bowdlerization to avoid negative political associations with the Levant. Oh man, I LOVE saying “the Levant.” Makes me feel like an Edwardian gentleman adventurer, or a 1920s San Francisco private eye, or at least Richard Halliburton. I also use “the Orient” and “the Occident” when I can. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/45 "2017-04-07T15:13:53Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Had to look up “tony.” Is this a common word? Or is it regional? Well. I hope we all cleared _that_ up. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/46 "2017-04-07T15:18:21Z")
Hmmm…42 years on this planet and an English major to boot, and somehow, I have never come across “tony.” Thanks, Dope, for filling in another one of my cultural black holes! ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/47 "2017-04-07T16:26:16Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > My understanding is that lamb in Greece is quite tony, and often reserved for special occasions. Nah, lamb is everywhere in Greece, on every menu of every taverna you are likely to come across. Nothing special (even if they might eat it, say, for an Easter feast). ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/48 "2017-04-07T16:29:53Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > My understanding is that lamb in Greece is quite tony, and often reserved for special occasions. Lamb is super-common in Greece. They might roast a whole one for special occasions. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/49 "2017-04-07T16:44:45Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Turkey and roast beef. > > I know this because my daughter had volunteered to bring gyros in for her class, which she mentioned at exactly the sort of time you’d expect for a sitcom. I thus picked up an assortment of gyros from Arby’s while driving to her school – which, granted, wasn’t the best imaginable move; but which went over plenty better with those kids than the olives that another child’s parent scrambled to bring in. > > (Someone brought feta; I don’t know what the thought process was.) Per Arby’s: Gyro Meat: **Beef** , Water, Bread Crumbs (bleached wheat flour, dextrose, salt, yeast), **Lamb** , Soy Protein Concentrate, Cereal Binder (corn, wheat, rye, oat and rice flours), Contains Less than 2% of: Salt, Seasoning (spices, garlic powder, onion powder, soybean oil), Yeast Extract, Disodium Inosinate & Guanylate. CONTAINS: SOY, WHEAT. ETA: It looks like they also have a roast beef gyro and a turkey gyro, but the classic gyro contains “gyro meat” (beef and lamb). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/50 "2017-04-07T17:00:20Z")
Interesting; when I stopped in, they didn’t have one of those – just the turkey gyro and the roast beef gyro. (Googling around a bit, it looks like they just added the lamb one as a limited-time special, back during the last week of March.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/51 "2017-04-07T17:02:36Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Interesting; when I stopped in, they didn’t have one of those – just the turkey gyro and the roast beef gyro. (Googling around a bit, it looks like they just added the lamb one as a limited-time special, back during the last week of March.) Also, note there’s more bread crumbs than lamb in that one. 🙂 (But, yes, this is a new limited time thing. They had the beef and turkey ones on the menu before, if it’s not a permanent item.) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/52 "2017-04-07T17:49:39Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Lamb is super-common in Greece. They might roast a whole one for special occasions. Just a matter of simple economics. If the people like to eat lamb, the farmers raise more lamb, the price of lamb goes down, and people eat more lamb. I wish Americans liked to eat lamb more. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/53 "2017-04-07T20:16:16Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Just a matter of simple economics. If the people like to eat lamb, the farmers raise more lamb, the price of lamb goes down, and people eat more lamb. > > I wish Americans liked to eat lamb more. Oddly enough, I went to the grocery store today with the taste of gyros on my mind and ground lamb was _cheaper_ than ground beef. :eek: (Ground lamb at $2.99/lb, while ground beef started at $3.49/lb.) First time I’ve ever seen that. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/54 "2017-04-07T20:36:47Z")
Just a note on “Mezze”. One of the best meals of my life was a Greek restaurant in Bruges, Belgium and their sign out front read “Mezze and tapas” My wife and I ordered “mezze” and it was the cook just bringing out one dish after another “until you say stop”. I think we quit after dish #9. It was fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/55 "2017-04-07T21:55:10Z")
There’s a chain called Verts (used to be Vertskebap) in Texas that is that Mediteranean (or _whatever_) Generally pretty tasty. It’s essentially either chicken, lamb/beef or falafel on a weird pressed flat bread. (Not a pita, but like a roll that’s smushed flat.) If I remember correctly,it was started in Austin by some European students who missed the food they got back home. I like their sauces. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/56 "2017-04-07T22:22:12Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Or in other words, Israeli food. > > Most of the restaurants linked in this thread look Israeli to me, based on their menus. The use of the term “Mediterranean” for the cuisine is also a big hint, as that’s how Israelis refer to the cuisine. > > And yes, assembly is common in Israeli restaurants, as is use of word “mezze” (or “mazetim” in Hebrew. I’ve been to a number of restaurants like the one described in the OP, and the best one near my office is decidedly Israeli. I’ve also heard this type of restaurant referred to as Middle Eastern. I wouldn’t say the concept is new. There’s one in a mall food court near me that’s at least five years old. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/57 "2017-04-07T22:27:00Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Hmmm…42 years on this planet and an English major to boot, and somehow, I have never come across “tony.” Thanks, Dope, for filling in another one of my cultural black holes! I’d never heard the term either, and I’m a journalist who gets exposed to a lot of pop culture stuff. But I shall now file it for future reference! 😃 And as for the OP: It sounds like you’re describing pretty much every kebab shop in Australia. And Kebabs are awesome, no matter whether you’re having one for lunch or it’s accompanying a small brewery’s worth of alcohol on a night out. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/58 "2017-04-07T23:06:37Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Hmmm…42 years on this planet and an English major to boot, and somehow, I have never come across “tony.” Thanks, Dope, for filling in another one of my cultural black holes! Ditto, except I’m 44. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/59 "2017-04-08T21:26:37Z")
I’m younger (32), but I’ve never heard it, either. And I tend to be somehow aware of slang that isn’t used in my area. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820/60 "2017-04-08T22:59:33Z")
I mostly hear it in references to real estate and neighborhoods and locations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-restaurant-trend-mediterranean-assembly-line/783820.md?page=2)