Presto Mediterranean Cafe

Presto is one of the few consistently good places in the market...quick fast, hot and delicious.

Downtown is a world of Mediterranean food options - and these are generally the cafeteria style, get in line and have stuff glopped onto a plate type establishments.  Presto is a little different - first off, being in the Market, it doesn't have the room to play that kind of setup.  Secondly, the plate options definitely taste more authentic.  Thirdly, the felafel here tastes much better than at the bigger fast food type joints, so I always go back for that.  

So if you find yourself at Ogilvey and in need of a quick meal, you definitely can't go wrong with Presto.  If you're downtown in general, and within distance, you should check this place out, as it's a solid food choice to get you through the day.

So happy that I stumbled upon Presto at the French Market.  It's around the corner from "Raw".  Based on the name, I wouldn't have guessed that this was a Mediterranean place, but it was indeed.

I told the guy that I wanted something vegetarian after not seeing a veggie plate pictured (they do have a falafel plate with rice pictured, but I didn't want rice).  He showed me the small sign where you can select 4 or 5 "salads" for around $6.  I selected hummus, baba ganoush, spicy chick pea salad, dolmas, and Jerusalem salad.  It came with a warm pita and tahini sauce.

The guy working there was really nice, and the food was the perfect amount for lunch (disclaimer: I eat big lunches!).  The counter where the food was looked very clean, and the food appeared and tasted fresh.  My only one tiny complaint is that the hummus had a lot of cumin in it.  I like cumin, but maybe not in hummus.  

I'm really picky about Mediterranean food as it's one of my favorite types, and Presto definitely will be added to the top of my rotation list.  It's much better, in my opinion, than other options in proximity of Oglivy train station, such as Mezza or Jaffa Bakery.  

Here is a link to the menu: <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.frenchmarketchicago.com%2Fdl%2Fpresto_menu.pdf&s=05555361a604543b449720909bd47df5ba8082ee18cf7cb36068c1079d0fe810" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.frenchmarketc…</a>