Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill

January 22, 2013Katie

Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill is located smack dab next door to Buffalo Wild Wings on NW Expressway.

You might think that a little odd, that is, if you didn’t know that Ed Lynn owned both restaurants.

The story goes that Ed visited Colorado one week on the hunt for an opportunity, dined at a Garbanzo there, and was eager to bring the first of the its kind to Oklahoma City. He loved it and hopes to bring with it an introduction to Mediterranean food to a demographic that might not know much about it or have tried it. Ed also confesses to the fact that he could eat this food every day and be happy…and I think he does.

(Watch Garbanzo’s Ed Lynn and Patrick McAfee guest on my segment on Rise & Shine by clicking play below!)

Garbanzo was founded by the founder of Panera Bread, Ken Rosenthal and also Alon Mor. Panera has become wildly popular due to its healthy ingredient choices, freshly baked daily pastries and breads and bright and modern decor. Garbanzo is a similar operation with daily offerings of fresh baked homemade pita (from scratch, I SAW the Hobart mixer!), trans fat free ingredients, and, if you’re a lover of Mediterranean food, you’ll love this place for a quick lunch or dinner. Imagine Qdoba in Mediterranean form, and you’ve kind of got the concept of Garbanzo.

You start out with ordering one of three ways.

Choose an entree.

Offering #1 – a Pita (stuffed pocket bread in white or wheat).

Offering #2 -a Laffa (a wrap).

Offering #3 – a Plate.

Next pick a protein – the options are all natural chicken, steak or Portobello mushroom shwarma (specially seasoned with Mediterranean spices and grilled).

And then continue down the cafeteria style line to add fresh vegetables and sauces to your own personal creation.

The Platter comes with a little of everything, including one of those fresh pitas, and you must try the falafel (made fresh as well), which is delicious as well as the Persian style salads.

I saw the walk-in cooler supply of daily made vegetable offerings, as well as the falafal dough, a tasty concoction of ground garbanzo beans seasoned up with parsley, cilantro, garlic and cumin then shaped into balls and deep fried. They’re crispy on the outside and tender on the inside and I actually thought the falafel at Garbanzo was wonderful. Next time I go, I want to get a Laffa made with these in it. I once had a hotdog made with falafel in Tulsa, and it was life changing. Also the house made dressings and sauces at the end of the line are really wonderfully Mediterranean as well and tasty.

Other offerings at Garbanzo, are the Kabobs, seasoned chunks of chicken, steak and mushroom threaded onto 2 skewers along with fresh vegetables and grilled and plopped a top a bed of rice. Side offerings that come with it are hummus, and a fresh vegetable salad.

Salad lovers can grab a Mediterranean themed bed of greens topped with any of the meats along with feta cheese, red onion and a choice of 3 dressings. And there is also a daily offering of soup.

I tasted the Tomato Feta Bisque when I was there and it was delicious.

Drink offerings come in the form of self-serve soda, Hibiscus Mango tea Fusion, Iced Tea and a house made Pomegranate Mint Lemonade that you’ll see in the cooler counter by the register.

Even the kiddos have something to eat at Garbanzo. Things like a Grilled Cheese Pita or a PB&J Pita.

And just for a side note…Mr. Wonderful was escatic about the homemade potato chips, being freshly fried and dumped out regularly in front of us while we were going down the line.