THE MAZZAH (OFTEN CALLED “MEZZE”)
The hummus, super creamy and
No matter what, do get the
lemony, did not disappoint the two
mettabal ($4.99 as an appetizer),
times I visited Al Basha, which boasts
better known as baba ganoush, a
two brightly lit dining rooms, seats
creamy eggplant purée that was just
160, and admittedly can use a good
divine; and mhamarha ($5.99), a
paint job, if not a complete face-
wonderfully sweet roasted tomato dip
lift; its art would be right at
heady with the taste of fresh
home at a Motel 6 and, come
ground cumin and flecked
AT A
on, don’t we dine out to get
with walnuts. The tabbouleh
GLANCE
away from TV screens, not
($4.99 if ordered as a salad),
• MOST ENTREES
$15-$20
have one — make that two,
too often heavy on the bul-
• ACCEPTS CREDIT
one in each dining room —
gur and light on the parsley,
CARDS
dominate our eating/social-
was instead loaded with
• GOOD FOR
GROUPS/
izing space?
fresh parsley, snippets of
FAMILIES
But fans don’t go to Al
juicy tomatoes, and hints of
• FAMILY
FRIENDLY
Basha for the decor; they
lemon and garlic with just a
• OPEN FOR
go for the food.
smidgen of grain to bind it.
LUNCH AND
DINNER, 7 DAYS
There may be no bet-
The mazzah also included
• TAKE OUT
ter way to start a Middle
bakdunsiah, a beautifully
• DELIVERY
Eastern meal than to
light green melange of pars-
• CATERS
tear into fresh hot pita
ley, cream, olive oil, tahini
breads — Al Basha has
and, alas, too much salt;
a dedicated pita maker
and super-light kebe that
— and dunk them into an array of
were short on meat and rather dry,
authentic dips. Not sure which of the
though grease-free on the outside.
more than 20 (from $4.99 for fava
There was no shortage of meat on
beans to $10 for eggplant with meat)
the “small” meat platter ($18.99).
to get? Have the restaurant do the
Our friendly waiter said it feeds one;
choosing — that is, order a Mazzah
I’d like to meet the person who can
(often called “mezze”). It features
eat all that meat in one sitting. Let’s
seven dips and even two kebes
just say a family of four would not
(Arabic meatballs).
leave hungry feasting on the proteins
that sat on a king-size bed of rice.
The thin slices of meat off the rotis-
series were full of flavor, the chicken
kabab moist and piquant from a
yogurt soak laced with paprika, and
the steak kabab tender, with a pleas-
ant tandoor-grill flavor. The long
chopped-meat sausage, however, was
undercooked and underwhelming.
As for service: my dining compan-
ion and I waited for our appetizers
20 minutes, which is a rather long
time. When our next course didn’t
arrive for some time, we just sat
there, figuring the kitchen was slow,
while managing, however, to work up
some anger. Only when our waiter
stopped by and we asked about our
next dish did we realize that we, not
the sharpest knives in the drawer
that day, had forgotten to order our
entrée. Our bad.
The restaurant’s bad, though: thin
paper napkins (one per diner); no
share plates; and no water glass for
my companion’s bottled water.
But Al Basha’s fans — count us
in — can forgive these slights. After
all, who cares how thick the napkin
is when the warm pita is homemade
and the silky hummus is so darn
good? ■
WAYNE MAGAZINE FALL 2018
39