On a recent night out running errands, Cary and I were looking for some quick food to take home.  We decided to stop by the Blu Fig, a relatively new restaurant in Nolensville.  It features typical Mediterranean cuisine and a variety of smoothies.  They also serve bubble tea, which I found intriguing and will try on another visit.

The Dolmas are simply stuffed with the restaurant’s fragrant rice.  The rice is slightly savory, maybe having steeped in chicken stock, and features small bits of vegetables such as peas and carrots.  The stuffed grape leaves go well with the cucumber specked yogurt sauce.  While lots of restaurants in town tend to fuss with their dolmas to their detriment, these were a nice, simple accompaniment to the rest of our meal.

The Greek salad was an equal mixture of romaine lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes.  It was topped with several olives, chopped almonds and large chunks of feta cheese with a light citrus dressing.  The large amount of tomatoes and cucumbers made this salad very enjoyable.  The light dressing really let the vegetables shine.

The gyro plate comes with homemade chips.  They were thick cute and served warm with a nice seasoning salt.  The gyro was a mixture of romaine lettuce, tomato, and a cucumber like tzatziki sauce.   The pita was thick and held up nicely through the whole meal.  The gyro meat was shaved thin, which can be a good thing or a bag thing.  Many times, if it is shaved really thin, it dries out.  In this case, it was great.  The meat was moist and had a great pepper flavor.

The “duo plate” features both chicken and gyro meat on a bed of fragrant rice with pita and a small salad on the side.  The chicken was especially well seasoned and still juicy, despite the dryness some chicken dishes experience.  As Sarah mentioned, the gyro meat is sliced thin, but has a few crispy bits on the edges and is well seasoned.  We’re looking forward to trying more of the offerings from the Blu Fig.

One of our favorite places to eat in Nashville is Kalamatas, a small Mediterranean restaurant with a health conscience menu.

We began the meal with a small Greek salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, pepperocini and feta cheese.  The dressing is a house creation that I haven’t quite figured out yet.  It is a thick vinaigrette that is wonderful.

As an appetizer we ordered hummus and pita wedges.  The hummus is lightly drizzled with olive oil.  It is slightly tangy and very smooth.

As another appetizer (we may have a problem…  the first step is acknowledging this right?), we ordered the Falafel, which is delightfully crunchy on the outside.  The Tzatzaki sauce that is the accompaniment is creamy and tangy with a hint of cucumber.

Cary ordered the the combo kabob plate with chicken, beef and lamb.  You can choose either rice or potatoes as a side.  Cary likes to order the rice and drizzle Tzatzaki sauce over it.  The beef and chicken are well seasoned and are tender and juicy.  The lamb is very similar to sausage with a very intense flavor.

I ordered the lamb gyro, which is a mixture of lamb, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and Tzatzaki sauce.  The lamb is very well seasoned and delicious in the pita.  The sandwich is so large, I split it with Cary.

Cary let me pick out desserts….  This may have been a mistake as I came back to the table with four. (No judgment, right?)  We tried a coconut Lebanese cookie, which is like a flattened coconut macaroon.  I liked this better than a macaroon because it has a greater crunchy outside to soft gooey inside ratio.

The tiramisu is wonderful!  It has a distinct espresso taste that is not overwhelming.  The cream on top of the lady finger biscuits is light and delicious!

In my mind, no Mediterranean restaurant is complete without excellent baklava and this is excellent baklava.  The filo dough is crisp with a light honey flavor, which complements the mixture of pistachio nuts and cinnamon.

A recent addition to the dessert menu is gelato from Nucci’s.  We selected the pistachio variety to complement our baklava.  It was creamy and delightful!

If you stop by Kalamatas on a Saturday night, they almost always have some sort of instrumental music, which is fabulous.  They also have take out and cater.  Now, after those desserts…  I think I’m going to go to the gym!