Alladin in Hillcrest

Good middle eastern food is something to remember. Having had pastilla in morocco, kebab in Armenia, lebneh and kefta in Lebanon and of course hummus and foul from Cairo to Dubai to Doha and Kuwait, I can be pretty discerning and no genie from the bottle easily rocks my world.

A challenge for many places in the states is access to fresh ingredients and spices only found east of the Babylon. From Persian cucumbers to sumac to herbs I can't even pronounce, there has always been something missing here...particularly the mouhammara from Syria...red pepper and walnut paste with garlic and olive oil.

Well Alladin is not short on it's offerings, and the Lebanese owners are very courteous and generous folks.

The garlic lebneh (I think it's on the menu but have a habit of ordering random cravings) is the real thick and whole hearted good stuff... Your fork can stand upright in it. The shawarmas overflowing with lamb and flavor and their roasted chicken salads enough for dinner and lunch the next day.

Somehow pizzas have made it onto the menu... And you can have a lamb kebab influenced pizza... but the babaganoosh, pita, tabuleh are all great. Order some extra sumac (reddish sour Arabic spice used to flavor everything from hummus to salads) with the fresh olive oil. The fresh brewed mint teas over ice with 2 packs of splenda is almost as good as the Arabic tea that is customary everytime you walk into someone's house or store across the pond. The mint taste different here but it's very close.



Chicken mediterranean salad... Lemony vinagrette..

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