Hummus among us

Jobe's was closed.

Well, not closed for good, but while my nuclear wife and 2.5 kids and I dipped our pita bread into freshly made hummus and dined on Greek-style moussaka and kababs at the restaurant next door to Jobes's last Saturday, the lack of cars, people, and signs of life at the old Route 66 drive-in and the thought that they wouldn't be open for business on a Saturday was slightly depressing.

Whoa, back up there. Did I really write hummus, and moussaka, and kababs?

Welcome to Georgeo's Meditteranean Cafe, on Route 66 in El Reno, Oklahoma.

I had noticed this place whenever I did happen to drive by since it looked done and ready to open but never had it's shingle hung for business. And let's face it, an eatery that was hawking something other than burgers, chicken-fried steak and pizza within a 30-minute drive of my small town was bound to attract my attention.

Well, the place finally opened, Georgeo was a gracious and entertaining host, his wife's cooking was top notch, and the bill for the horrendous amount of food we consumed was checkbook pleasing.

And even though the food we were eating was deliciously Greek, the music pumping through the recessed speakers in the ceiling was Greek, and the sites and smells surrounding us in the tastefully decorated eatery were all very Greek, a thoughtful study of the menu revealed that we were indeed, still in Oklahoma.

Chicken-fried steak and dolmas.
Barbeque burger and baba ganoosh.
Spanakopita and spaghetti.
Gyro platter and 12 oz. ribeye.
And on the back page of the menu, pizza, any way you want it.


The menu reflects a hodgepodge of items I'm sure Georgeo would PREFER to offer alongside items he feels COMPELLED to offer, in dedicated service to the occasionally limited palate of his customers.

Or perhaps he took this episode of Seinfeld to heart, not wanting to repeat the error of Babu's ways.

BTW, a quick phone call today revealed that Jobe's, the burger joint mainstay of El Reno's stretch of the Mother Road, is indeed still flipping, frying, and flinging burgers. Whew!