Knowing Your Shish From Shinola

It's been a stomach stretching week of global cuisine, fresh swordfish steaks, and burgers.  After a week of trying all that the big new Whole Foods in Friendship Heights has to offer, one specialty item rises above the rest: the shish.

Order when hungry; they give you a whole shish load of it.  You get to choose a couple of tapas (I went with Turkish eggplant and ezme salatsi) to go with your sliced lamb, pitas, and Persian rice. 

I was ready to dive in, but then my shish benefactor, some guy named Jerry, asked me if I wanted toppings.  Does a bear shish in the woods?  Before I knew it, my plate was loaded with Middle Eastern pickles, tomatoes, Israeli salad, seasoned onions and fresh cucumbers. 

The shish is advertised at 9 bucks, but seeing as how my platter now weighed about 2.5 pounds, I expected to pay extra.  Still, Jerry rang me up at 9 bucks - a very fair price, especially at Whole Paycheck.

The lamb is charcoal-grilled; shish was invented by medieval Iranic soldiers who used their swords to grill meat over open-field fires.  The taste was spicy and smoky, and, for a chain supermarket, the sides were authentic.

Plus, some novelty: according to Jane Mueller, Regional VP of Operations, no other Whole Foods in the nation boasts a shish counter.

Across the street, Giant (which, ironically, is dwarfed by Whole Foods) is hurting. 

Empty parking spaces at Giant.  You can see the bus behind me was not thrilled as I stopped in the middle of the road to take a few pics.

Kevin, the guy at the fish counter, said they've noticed a big drop in customers.  Right before the new Whole Foods opened, Giant lauched a preemptive attack by refurbishing the front of the store with a new dining area and flat-screen tv.  "That's nice," said Kevin, "but they should have added an outdoor eating area, too."

If they're really "quality food people," shouldn't they upgrade to some shish?