Chicken gyros and Greek potatoes.

It's been a long week.

Strange, how the shortest month of the year seems to go by the slowest for me. February has always been my least favorite month, and I don't think it's difficult to understand why. After the holiday season, the calendar year starts to dip down into a black hole of cold weather and more cold weather and even colder weather that sucks away all hope of sunshine and happiness. There's not even a pinhole of light at the end of the tunnel. Because around these parts, we're likely to expect a late March blizzard that keeps us buried in snow until May. And May is an eternity away.

Can you detect a bitter pessimism in my tone? This is what February does to me. And to top things off, today was gorgeous. In the 60s. With the sun shining. The sky blue-ing. I actually woke up to birds chirping this morning. What a horrible, dirty tease today was. Some people may have taken it as a sign of better days to come. Murdo opened the window, took a breath of fresh air and declared, "I'll take it." And so did I, eventually. But I tried not to enjoy it too much, because my bitter, pessimistic, February self still knew that it wouldn't last.

During times like these, when Mother Nature is just playing rotten tricks on the poor, hopeless souls below, there is one thing I can count on to brighten my week.



I've blogged about Nicky's Red Hots before, back in September, when I was still getting a feel for the menu. I ordered the Super Burger and was thoroughly disappointed. Since then, we've gone at least once a week, every week (Murdo is addicted to their lamb/beef gyros. Seriously. Addicted.), and I've been desperately trying to find an item on their menu that I could love enough to warrant going once a week, every week. I had a brief relationship with the chicken souvlaki sandwich, but that fell apart as soon as I tried the chicken gyro.




Never have I encountered a more flavorful, tender, juicy chicken. The brown edges give a slight crispness, and the honey mustard sauce is perfectly sweet and creamy.



And then there's the Greek potatoes, which are known to sell out before 6:30 on a busy day, they're that good. These potato wedges are soaked in garlic, lemon, butter, and olive oil, and the flavors just melt in the mouth beautifully.




When I'm eating chicken gyros and Greek potatoes, the black hole that is February doesn't seem so bad. Because I know that even though the weather might go from subzero temperatures to warm, sunny skies and back again, I can always count on Nicky's to remain tasty and true and satisfying. There's no teasing when it comes to a chicken gyro. Just good eating. We've already had Nicky's twice in the last week.