We’re back at it again with a new segment of Gordita Eateries. My goal this year is to keep my food column as close to home as possible so everyone in the community can get a chance to really get comfortable with where to go when it comes to grabbing some delicious grub.
As a Downey native, I’ve grown up with this city and never imagined it to flourish so much throughout the years with amazing new foodie spots.
This particular place, dead-center in the heart of Downey, has a menu that can make your eyes bigger than your stomach.
I’m talking about an endless number of incredible dishes that are all over the world.
The Marketplace Grill Cafe opened its doors in 2009 and was a huge hit for people who were looking to change their eating habits but still wanted to be able to enjoy nutritious and delicious dishes in an area where fast food was once abundant.
Their specialty you ask? Let me show you.
The focaccia chicken panini is a dish that calls onto garlic and pesto lovers who are up for an appetizing journey.
Imagine a scrumptious panini to enjoy on their outside patio on a nice sunny day right next to a tranquil waterfall that will unquestionably create bona fide vibes.
In all, the panini itself was the highlight of the entire dish with its flat oven-baked Italian style foccacia bread whose texture is very similar to pizza dough.
The bread is embellished with fragrant herbs which ties in the plump sweet tomato, purple onion, and white Monterrey jack cheese whose soft flavor tames the pesto spread which is embellished on the inside of toasted bread.
There are many options for sides for any of your meals. I paired my panini with their special house-cut fries that go great together with ranch and seasonal fruit, perfectly ending my meal altogether.
A new twist to pastrami sandwiches are expected to make people wonder if feta cheese and pastrami go well together and the correct answer is YES!
Feta pastrami sandwich with a rich house-made tomato soup and a Greek feta salad.
This was a dish where I had to think twice about ordering, solemnly due to the fact that feta cheese was present in a pastrami sandwich.
Those second thoughts left the building as soon as I dove right into my first mighty bite. Every bite took me higher and higher to pure fat-girl bliss as I devoured my sandwich that was partnered up with their in-house tomato soup and a delicious Greek feta salad.
Honestly, this sandwich completely threw me off of my sense of flavor combinations because I wasn’t too sure if the feta was going to overpower the thick-cut meat. It didn’t overwhelm it at all which made me enjoy this way more than I ever expected.
A plentiful amount of pickles and mustard graced the meat which made it feel like a regular classic New York-style pastrami sandwich.
In all, The Market Place Grill is certainly a place to visit when you have no idea what you want to eat, as you stand in line in awe with your mouth wide open thinking what the hell to get.
