10151 1/2 Riverside, North Hollywood (really Toluca Lake) 818/769-0865
Two words: lunch buffet. It's $8.95 -- pricy for lunch, but what a lunch! The buffet has salad, hummus, baba, falafel, potatoes, chicken, a few other dish choices like lamb and rice, lasagna with eggplant, and grape leaves (not sour, very sweet and unreal!) stuffed with lamb. Fruit and the most wonderful baklava included (and no limit -- watch yourself get wound up after the fourth baklava)(okay, it's just me....). They serve pita with the buffet as well. You'll need a crane to leave, but you won't care. If that's not your thing, or it's dinner time, get the sampler appetizer for $9.00 with tabouli, hummus, baba, falafel and grape leaves. If you're looking to avoid expanding the franchise, so to speak, order the chicken in a pita sandwich -- it's excellent although not great date food (it's messy!). A BIG lunchtime destination, but I've never had to wait because the place is pretty big. Give in and use the valet in the back for the bargain price of $1.50 and avoid the $28.00 parking ticket you'll get at lunchtime in Burbank.