You never know what you’ll find just around the corner in San Francisco. We were running errands a few Saturdays ago and didn’t really have any plans for the day. Clayton had just finished getting a haircut, and as we were leaving we saw a little line forming outside of the cute blue building next door. We popped over to find a new Greek restaurant and decided to grab lunch.
We’ve always loved Greek food, especially really good Greek food. This is way better than your basic gyro stand, and we think it tops our favorite Greek place in DC that we stop by whenever we’re visiting family there. Soulva is centered around rotisserie meat, and the word “soulva” means spit in Greek. You pick a meat and have the option of having it served as a sandwich or salad.
Before we get to the food, how cool is this space? The front of the restaurant is centered around a huge rotisserie, and you can work up an appetite watching the chicken, beef, and pork roasting to perfection while you wait in line. Be sure to check out their beer and wine. They are perfectly refreshing for a warm day.
To us, the best part of the restaurant is the back patio, which they’ve turned into an outdoor dining area. It feels like you’re at a party at someone’s house with lots of seating and lights strung overhead. We were lucky that the fog burned off and the sun came out, so we picked a spot outside.
Everything on the menu looks so good, it was really hard to choose. We settled on a pork sandwich, a vegetarian sandwich, and a side of fries with the garlic dipping sauce. Souvla is known for its roasted spit-fired meats, and the pork was good, but honestly our favorite was the roasted white sweet potato sandwich. It was really different and flavorful. Sometimes it seems like vegetarian dishes are an afterthought, but this sandwich is perfection. It’s topped with garlic yogurt, kalamata olives, walnuts, pickled red onion, pea shoots, and mizithra cheese. You won’t leave hungry.
Of course we had to try the frozen Greek yogurt with honey syrup and baklava crumbles. We love that these serve them in classic New York City coffee cups. It was delicious and loved that the yogurt was tart–not your regular sweet soft serve. Next time we for sure want to try the sour cherry version.
This spot is not to be missed and has another location in Hayes Valley. Perfect if you’re craving Greek food here in San Francisco. We’ll be back for another roasted sweet potato sandwich soon. If you’re not in SF, you can share satisfy your Greek food cravings with this easy Greek yogurt dip.
Souvla (NoPa)
531 Divisadero
San Francisco, CA