College Hill Deli: 50 Best dishes in Wichita

Wichita really isn't a city a lot of folks outside would expect to have amazing food.  It is however a treasure trove of dining options, ranging from Ethiopian to Vietnamese to French to New American.  The local newspaper tries to produce several lists throughout the year to help Wichitans find the best places to fill whatever craving you're searching for.  Recently, Denise Neil posted the 50 Dishes That Must Be Tried.  One of the restaurants and dishes mentioned here is one I've been meaning to taste fr a long time now.  The College Hill Deli is near our neighborhood, and has been around for several years now.  It serves mostly Mediterranean fare, with a few American dishes, like the Philly Cheese steak or a Burger.  My mission today though was the Beef Gyro, number 15 on Denise's list and number 1 for me on tackling this list. 

We made the trek on what was a wonderful weather morning, partly cloudy but warm.  We chose to sit outside on the patio, which offers a bit of shade and has fairly comfortable patio chairs to sit in.  We were some of the only folks there, but I could see the patio getting a bit crowded if people were trying to seat more than couple at the 6 or so tables out there.  Our server was pleasant, and checked on us several times throughout our meal.

My wife loves appetizers.  And I thought any place that serves Mediterranean food should have good hummus, so we got the starter plate to try.

 It proved to be a great idea.  The pita that came with it was warm and soft, and the hummus was topped with just the right amount of Olive Oil to add a nice flavor to the dish.  The hummus was an excellent creamy texture, and unlike some places in town was just the exact right amount of garlic to give life but not overpower.  Our server graciously brought us another pita as well, since we got a good amount of hummus to start.

Tasty Tasty hummus late

Shortly after the hummus arrived our main dishes came.  My gyro looked fantastic.

Gyro with Fattoush

The gyro was superb.  The sandwich was a good size, and the meat was plentiful in it.  The meat itself was well seasoned, and was very tender.  The meat also was very moist, always a tough task when making gyro meat.   The cucumber sauce on top was also excellent.  It had just the right amount of dill and salt to complement the meat, but not overpower it like I find so often with cucumber sauce.  I would have loved to have had another swipe of the cucumber sauce but thanks to the meat staying so moist it wasn't necessary.  The salad was good, and made an excellent light accompaniment to the sandwich.  It was fairly standard, well dressed.  The only downside was I would have preferred a bit more acidity, which the owner I think tried to bring by having several pickles in it.  I however am not a fan of pickles, so I moved most of them out.

For a start to the 50 dishes in Wichita, the College Hill Deli provided a wonderful jump off.  Its an excellent little spot to grab a nice light lunch, and hopefully will see much more of my business in the future.