| rev:text
| - Now this is what I'm talking about!! Total hole in the wall on East Wash in a strip mall behind some Mexican buffet, with the name People's Bakery, you'd never guess this place would have the best Middle Eastern food in Madison.
Start with the wife of the wife and husband team, who greets you warmly as you come in. The menu is on the wall, but there are hard copies for those who need an explanation of the nicely blended mix of Lebanese, Armenian and Syrian dishes. No matter your experience with food of the Middle East or Mediterranean, you'll find dishes you recognize, perhaps by different names.
This was my first visit, I'm sitting here eating my takeout order as I type this because it's that good. I ordered the lentil soup, and several appetizer portions including hummus, moohamara, sarma, and falafel.
Quick review:
- lentil soup. Awesome, just awesome. Beautiful saffron color from the cooked down red lentils, just the right mix of cumin and lemon, and a back end of heat, I'm guessing from Aleppo pepper. This is some thick soup, and filling, and for 2.50, you get a pint
- Moohamara. I wasn't going to get this. I like roasted red bell pepper, and I've had dips and purees made of them, but I've never sought it out. Mary, one of the owners, told me it was her favorite, best on the menu. And holy COW was she right. A smack of roasted red pepper is quickly deepened by a sweet hit of pomegranate and walnuts, ubelievably complex and wonderful.
- Falafel. Huge portion, perfectly deep-fried, with a really nice, light texture. Love the falafel, but I prefer tahini sauce, and these come with a yogurt mint sauce. Don't get me wrong, this is clearly their regional interpretation, Im all about the authentic experience, and this was good sauce. But, I confess that for my leftovers I'm making some tahini sauce.
- Hummus. You know, hummus is always a crap shoot for me. I make my own, from dried chick peas, and I've been working on this recipe for 25 years (along with my Bloody Mary recipe and about a hundred others). This is another of those regional interpretation issues, this was my least favorite today. I'll try it again, because my own hummus has on and off days. This was just more on the bland side than I expected, No one distinct flavor dominated so I felt like it was left with an almost indescribable flavor. Not bad, totally edible, just oddly unflavored. I added some lemon and salt, which helped some.
Sarma - if you're expecting dolmathes this will be familiar in flavor, but it texture. These are served cold with a yogurt dipping sauce. I'm okay with the temperature, but I just like a little lemon on mine. These are veg, the rice filling is cooked down to a coarse 'risotto-y' consistency. I dig them, but those who prefer the snap of dolmathes will find these softer, but just as flavorful
All in all, outstanding. Next time, shish tahouk and baba ganouj.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)