SCARBOROUGH – Lunch out usually means work. It means I have an appointment, an interview or some other obligation related to my job.

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A pizza emerges from Dimitri's oven at the Scarborough eatery. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

But last Friday, lunch out meant a treat.

My wife stayed home from work because she was sick, and put me in charge of bringing home lunch. She suggested I order takeout from Dimitri’s Brick Oven Pizzeria in Scarborough. The restaurant has been around for a long time, but a colorful new sign on Route 1 has called new attention to the place.

For variety’s sake, we ordered a Greek salad ($6), a meatball Parmesan sub ($7.95) and the 10-inch chicken deluxe wood-fired pizza ($11.95), which was served with big chunks of chicken, thinly sliced ham, cubes of fresh tomatoes and stalks of broccoli. The sandwich was very good, but everything else was just OK.

The salad tasted fresh, and a large plate of greens was generously supplemented with tomatoes, onions, peppers and feta cheese. The homemade oil dressing tasted predictable. We shared the salad, and agreed that it could have come from a bag. Acceptable, but nothing special.

The meatball parm was served on a soft, doughy roll and topped with gooey, stringy cheese. The meatballs were hot and spicy. I enjoyed this sandwich, and was especially pleased with the tangy pasta sauce. The meatball parm came with a side of fries, which, by the time I brought them home, were limp and cold. I still ate most of them.

I saved half of the sub for dinner, and the image of it wrapped in foil in my fridge teased my brain all afternoon. When I got home that evening, I heated up the half-sub and ate it as an appetizer while watching the Red Sox pregame show.

My wife and I disagreed about the pizza. I liked most everything about it, while she gave it a solid “eh.” I am usually one who disdains anything other than pepperoni or sausage on a pizza, but I appreciated the mingling of chicken chunks and broccoli. I thought the ham was unnecessary and that it detracted from the final outcome of the pizza. But overall, I felt it held up well and was a fair value for the dollar and relative to our expectations.

The Features staff of The Portland Press Herald anonymously samples meals for about $7.