Roti

The notion of "food on a human scale" conjures up images of a four-cheese panini in a bathroom, reading between its feet and wondering when it's gonna drop those holiday lbs. Bringing you "human scaled" food, though slightly less literally: Roti

Opening its first District outpost after killing it with a few spots in Chicago, Roti's a counter-ordering, Mediterranean breakfast/lunch factory with stone walls and yellow/blue ornamental lamps; the joint's decidedly unique credo is to celebrate the cuisine/culture and channel the region where "the great philosophers gave birth and meaning to the term humanism", most famously, food-obsessed thinker Plate-o. No? Socra-peas? Sorry. Ordering's assembly line style: sandwich and salad bases include chicken or steak roti (fire-roasted at 1000 degrees!), falafel, marinated veggies, or grilled chicken/steak/salmon kabobs, which get toppings (from Sumak onions to baba ghanoush) and sauces like roasted red pepper aioli, creamy garlic, yogurt & cucumber, and sesame seed-based tahini sauce, whose name's derived from the Arabic "to grind", so don't expect to bring any of it to your middle school Spring Fling dance, mister. For the more adventurous odyssey-taker, they've also got the Moroccan Rice Bowl with chicken/steak, rice, and your choice of three sauces/toppings; the fire roasted chicken/steak & hummus/baba ghanoush Venetian; and the couscous/hummus/tomato/cucumber salad Gibraltar, which totally rocks

Bonus!: get in line before 2pm next Wednesday, and Roti'll just straight give you (w/ suggested charitable donation) any sandwich, salad, or Mediterranean plate, plus a fountain drink totally free -- handy, because while "the human scale" can be depressing, your pay scale's even worse.