An everyday delight

A little slice of heaven lies amid the daily bustle of construction workers, shopping teens and harried mothers in Old Town Takoma at 6923 Laurel Ave. Although it's been there for years, Everyday Gourmet has the friendly staff and beautiful decor of a freshly opened café.

With the quiet sophisticated aura of small town deli, Everyday Gourmet's photo-covered walls and stacked shelves of dozens of colored wine bottles seems fitting. The quiet music, including favorites like "Lean on Me" and "Pretty Woman" plays softly near the cozy, relaxing tables. A Zen rock garden is positioned in the window display, bringing a calm, relaxed feeling to the entire building.

Whether you start your Gourmet experience with one of a variety of freshly baked croissants and cookies or with something from the stunning display of various foreign chicken dishes, it doesn't matter. Every dish is as wonderful as the next, exuding both exotic and familiar flavors.

One particular delight is the homemade red skin potato salad, consisting of moist potatoes with crunchy diced celery and a creamy mayonnaise sauce. Sprinkled with pepper, the potatoes in the chilled salad are perfectly done, not too soft nor too crunchy.

Another of Everyday Gourmet's specialties is a wonderful chicken teriyaki dish. Be warned, the sauce is messy, but absolutely necessary, giving the moist white meat a delicious flavor. Although it is a little dry on the larger pieces, this inexpensive entrée is perfect for a light meal. Other main courses include Hawaiian chicken salad, sesame noodles, Caribbean jerk chicken and vegetable pancakes, all for relatively low prices.

As your meal comes to an end, a large variety of tastefully arranged desserts entice your palate. From jam-filled croissants to soft pan cookies, the sweets selection has choices to satisfy each of your taste buds. A particularly scrumptious dessert is the delectable cinnamon bun, which is covered in icing, oozes a sugary cream in every bite and costs less than $2. An extra plus that Everyday Gourmet offers 50% off all baked goods made yesterday, a very generous deal.

However, not all of Everyday Gourmet's meals are as perfect as the potato salad, as exemplified by the plum tomato & cucumber salad. At first, the ripe tomatoes and crisp cucumbers form a wonderful combination, but after a few bites the flavor fades. Intriguing at first, the salad soon leaves a foul aftertaste, possibly brought on by an overdose of herbs.

If you're the kind of person who can sit down in a Starbucks and drink coffee all day, then Everyday Gourmet is a cheaper, classier choice. Espressos cost only $1.50 and Iced Coffee is only $1.35. Nearly all of the drinks in the restaurant are as well priced, making your meal much tastier, without being too expensive.

Being nearly perfect, one might wonder why Everyday Gourmet isn't more popular. However, it's the quaint and open feeling that the restaurant has which makes the meal so enjoyable. With low prices and wonderful food, it would be a large mistake not to make Everyday Gourmet part of your daily schedule.