Zathmary's

Abundance to go

by Rob McKeown

on the cheap

Il Buongustaio November 23 Thai Place November 16 Nashoba Brook Bakery, November 9 Café Habibi, November 2 Flour, October 26 Sweet Tomatoes October 19 Ba Le October 12

If you're looking for a good meal, specialty-food stores are hit-or-miss. Some are too big, and they feel like nothing more than supermarkets. Others are too small, and they feel like gawky delis. Zathmary's, in the ever-hungry 'hood of Coolidge Corner, is just the right size.

How can I tell? Not only did I end up buying too much lunch, but the displays of foodstuffs, voluptuously overflowing, sent me home with a bag of H&H bagels along with some Belgian hazelnut spread. Part of the temptation is that one side of the store is taken up with take-out options. Bakery, sushi bar, prepared foods, sandwiches, cheese -- it doesn't stop. And neither did I.

Bummed that the Creole fave muffuletta was eighty-sixed, I consoled myself with Mama's Meatloaf Sandwich ($6.99) on a crusty baguette; it was no-frills and all the better for it. The Smoker was another interesting concept. All the smoked or smoky stuff -- smoked ham, turkey, provolone, and gouda, roasted red peppers, and chipotle- pepper mayo -- came out full of flavor, like a poor man's Todd English dish.

Prepared foods were good, yet all of them were oddly sweet. Trend or holiday angle? Too early to call. But chicken marbella ($10.99 per pound) was admirably moist, with apricots, dates, olives, and a cloak of brown sugar and red-wine vinegar. Nutty orzo ($7.99) was, as advertised, rice-shaped pasta with cranberries and slivers of hazelnuts. Stuffed mushrooms ($6.99) were overcooked but rescued by copious amounts of fennel sausage and parmigiano cheese.

I ate my food in an airy, half-sterile café that sits up front under overhead lamps. Watching other on-the-run eaters, I noticed that we all had one thing in common: we had enough food to take home for dinner.

Zathmary's, located at 299 Harvard Street, in Brookline, is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Call (617) 731-8900.

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