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Tag: Middle Eastern (page 1 of 1)

Sufi’s

Sufi’s is one of those places where the decor is lovely, the ambience is great, the food is nice… but the lighting is too dark to take good pictures. Not that big a deal, right?

Can’t seem to be able to write much today, so I’ll say it in bullet points!
  • Fabulous, I repeat, fabulous pita breads. So soft that they are like the Indian naans, flecked with black sesame seeds, I could make a meal of these. Actually, I did so the next day! Now that I think about it, these were made of white flour and there’s a probability that egg was incorporated into the dough. Not sure, though.
  • Not many vegetarian items on the menu. A couple of visits and I would have sampled every vegetarian dish served.
  • I think all the appetizers contain eggplant. So if that is your hated vegetable, you will probably need to skip to the entrees.
  • How could I forget the platter of nuts-cheese-herbs-butter?!! You can see it above. Along with the pita breads, they bring you a small plate containing walnuts, rounds of feta cheese, a couple of slabs of butter, fresh basil (and another herb that I couldn’t identify). I suppose you load the bread with these tidbits. Very very very nice.
  • Our appetizers’ order got a little messed up, I think. Or so I thought. Anyway, we got Hummus, Mast Kheyar and the Sufi’s Special. P thought that the hummus was strictly okay – I thought it was pretty nice. Sufi’s Special featured spicy sautéed eggplant, onion, garlic, and chick peas in a spicy tomato sauce. It was nice, although a little spicy for my palate, and tasted much like the Indian baingan bharta. Mast Kheyar is a dish of beaten yogurt with chopped cucumber and herbs. Raita, anyone?
  • Our server got us a bowl of smooth beaten yogurt. We didn’t order it and so I don’t know where that came from.
  • For the entrees, I got a bowl of Ash Joe soup and P got a platter of Vegetable Kabobs. P adored the soup; it contains barley, lentils and red beans, topped with herbs, chopped mint (didn’t get that flavor, though), caramelized onions (YUM!) and whey. P liked it so much that he started thinking about how we could recreate it at home.
  • The Vegetable Kabobs featured seasonal vegetables (zucchini, squash, peppers, mushrooms, onions), marinated and cooked over an open flame. That was a nice dish, all the vegetables retaining their crunch, dark grill marks along side. The basmati rice was very nicely done too.
  • There was no dessert menu but tons of options! Wish I remembered some of them… anyway, I think we ordered rose-flavored Persian ice cream. It came with chopped pistachios and other nuts, reminded me of the Kaju Draksh flavor from Natural’s Ice creams.

Would I go to Sufi’s again? Possibly, yes. For the awesome nut-herb platter. The fabulously soft and pillowy pita breads. To sample the desserts, yes!

 

Jerusalem Bakery

A couple of weeks ago, I stepped into Jerusalem Bakery in Marietta. A sleepy space, a single attendant, shelves filled with freshly baked pita bread, packets of sesame-studded bread sticks, date rolls, walnut biscuits and cookies, baked pies… You get the delicious picture. This is a place I have been meaning to visit since some time – never got around to it.


I looked around, peeked into the freezer filled with various kinds of cheeses (almost all of them kosher, with non-animal rennet – YAY!), and walked out with a bag of whole wheat pita bread and a packet of date rolls. The date rolls were very delicious and the sesame seeds provided a nice crunch. The pita breads? Fabulous. I realized that buying pita bread from a bakery (at Jerusalem, they bake it daily) makes the hugest difference. I finished the last pita round (or bread?) a couple of days back. Can you believe that it was still oh-so soft? Btw, cost of a packet of whole wheat pita bread? $1.69 only. And believe me, it is a lot more delicious and less expensive than what you could buy from your big grocery store.


Again visited the bakery yesterday. The light was good, so I got some good pictures. This time I bagged a box of date rolls (the non-sesame kind), my packet of whole wheat pita breads, and a box of Ma’moul (walnut stuffed pastries). P found the Ma’moul very sweet but I thought it was pretty delicious. There is a liberal sprinkling of powdered sugar that I dusted off as much as I could. Haven’t sampled the date rolls yet but I am sure they’re delicious. About Ma’moul, if you want to know how to bake them at home, read this on Desert Candy, one of my favorite food blogs.


Jerusalem Bakery
585 Franklin Rd, Suite 160
Marietta GA 30067
770-419-1666
www.jerusalem-bakery.com