In case you haven't guessed by now, I went through a major food craving last week. It all began a week ago Friday. I was watching HESHE (How it Should Have Ended) on youtube and at the end of one of the episodes there was a reference to shawarma. So as I'm watching my brain goes, "hmmmm, we haven't had shawarma is a long time, that kinda sounds.......MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD CRAVING!"
Armed with the power of my smart phone and the Yelp app, I found a close by middle eastern restaurant as quick as Newt Gingrich finds new wives (well, ok that a bit of hyperbole. I'm not nearly as fast as Newt). "Layla Lebanese Restaurant", hmmmm, I had never tried Lebanese food before. It being Friday afternoon a surmised that my chances of find a pretty dinner companion (I abhor eating alone) were zip to nil . So I did the next best thing, I mooched. My roomie was just about to go out on a bike ride date and realizing that while he isn't the most beautiful flower on the bush, his date was. Sidling up to them, I carefully composed my face to hide my ulterior motives. "Hey, have you guys ever had Lebanese food?" I queried. "Because I was just thinking of trying out this restaurant but I don't know anything about Lebanese food." The girl's eyes light up, I smiled inwardly knowing I had already won. "I LOVE LEBANESE FOOD!!!!", music to my ears. With in seconds I had committed them to meet me at the restaurant, which also conveniently happened to be near the trail they were going to go ride.
Cut to a hour later.
Wandering in the streets of Old town Alexandria, we searched desperately for the resistant. I could barely think over the sound of my brain's screaming "GIVE ME LEBANESE FOOD NOW!" I kept looking at my phone as the minutes ticked away, I had a set engagement that evening that I had to be at and my window for getting Lebanese goodness and making it home in time to shower and change into my Top Gun costume was quickly disappearing
Lets just say I was pretty popular that night.
Finally, with the use of Google maps and a helpful hobo who wanted to tell us all about how the U.S. never landed on the moon, we found Layla's. Walking in the front door my nose was greeted with the strong garlic and cumin smells of Middle Eastern fare. I look down at my phone to see how much time I had so I knew what to order. My heart stopped, I only had 20 mins to get home and shower before I had to leave. My head swam, the delectable smells of fresh shawarma called to my soul. Doing everything in my power not to break down into tears under the strain I turned to my roomie and his date and explained the situation. With my head hung lower than a Chinese Communist official who has been busted for using his position to get filthy rich, I walked back to the Metro station and made my way home.
The Craving didn't go away however.
On Sunday though I was given the perfect answer to my problem. While in Sunday school I found myself sitting next to this very attractive girl. We had talked briefly a couple of times before and I had found her to be intelligent and able to keep up her end of the conversation (Two of my key requirements in dinner companions). I had been wanting to ask her on a date to get to know her better but had never found the chance (and by chance I mean guts/courage/cajones/whatever). All of a sudden my brain finally kicked in and I realized I needed to combine the two. To make a long story short, I didn't have the "chance" (again) to ask, but after some ribald encouragement from my roommates I called her and (to my utter surprise) she not only agreed to come but also said she would love to try Lebanese food.
The week dragged by as the ache for hommus and lamb gnawed at my soul. Finally, Friday night came. Meeting at the King Street metro station, we made our way down king street to the restaurant. After having to turn around once because I walked right passed it (again), we found ourselves in a cozy front eating area full of the delicious aromas of roasting chickpea and red meat.
The Interior of Layla's s done up dark wood paneling and a kind of warm sandstone color paint. the tables are small iron-work affairs with a pristine table cloth lade over the top. we had an excellent view out of the main window that faces Kings Street, perfect for people watching while enjoying hommus and pittas.
After perusing the menu we decided that we really just wanted one of everything. So we started of by ordering the appetizer sampler.
one of the best choices (in a series of awesome choices) we made that night
Starting in the upper left corner we have the stuffed grape leaves. At first look they seemed a bit small (not like the behemoths you get in Costco), luckily they packed a lot of taste. Even though they are a vegetarian dish, the had a almost bacon like, slightly acidic flavor. This was off set nicely by the mild licorice flavor of the grape leaves and the sweetness of the rice. The crispness off the leaves also pared nicely with the moist and slightly chewy texture of the glutenous rice. Next came the hommus. This was the real winner for me. The hommus on the bottom left had olive oil and lemon juice mixed in, giving it a tartness I really enjoyed. The hommus on the back right had a rich-smokey flavor with a light bitterness I can't quite place. It was fantastic though and I couldn't leave it along for the rest of the meal. Both the spinach pies and the falafel were good but not impressive (my date disagreed on this point but since this is my blog I'm doin this my way) . The Tabouleh was also very good, though almost too acidic for my taste. spooning some on to a pita with some hommus was wonderful. The pitas were surprisingly delicate, and soon became cold and a little chewy. when they first came out though, hooohh baby were they good.
After working our way about half way through our appetizers the main course came. We had both agreed that we wanted to get food we had never tried before. So giving up my dreams of sawahrma (though that just gives me an excuse to go back), I chose the Batenjan Mahshi while my date decided the salmon needed to be tried. We had already agreed on going "Family Style" so we each got to try both.
Batenjan Mahshi
The Batenjan Mahshi almost have the constancy of watery marinara sauce. It had a very strong tomato flavor which (in my opinion) over powered the lamb and eggplant and made the dish unbalanced. The rice and pine nuts were excellent though, and mixing the stew and the rice together improved the overall flavor greatly.
The star of our meal
Oh the Salmon! Beside being cooked tender perfection with just the right amount of blackening around the edges, the sauce was. to. die for! Not overly thick it had a creaminess something akin to cream cheese with a bitter and spicy edge (that I still can't identify) and LOTS of garlic. They call it Tahini sauce but my guess is it is something more akin to Greek yogurt. There were also highlight of cilantro and a little mint that really just put this fish over the top. I will be having this again next time I go (if I'm not getting Shawarma)
While I loved the fish (in case you couldn't tell), my date really dug the stew. In the end we both just laughed at our waitress when she asked if we wanted to box anything up (there was nothing left to box).
But a dinner (or a date) is not complete without dessert and being a avid baker I wanted to try some of the cupcake offerings in Old Town. As we walked to the water front we found ourselves in front of Occasionally Cake. This old town home made Bakery keeps their selection small so they can focus on quality. We found ourselves drawn to the s'more cupcake and the raspberry amaretto. Both cakes were suitably fluffy and moist. The amaretto lacked flavor unfortunately, while the s'more cupcake was packed with it. in both cases the frosting was dense and not fluffy at all, which while visually appealing, make the cupcakes hard to eat.
s'more
Amaretto
As we walked back to the king street metro station we found ourselves enjoying looking into all the little shops on king street in old town. luckily I did not give myself another food craving, though I did add another 20 or 30 niche store to my list of place I want to go into and look around. The tree lights for Christmas had recently been hung, making the walk that much more beautiful. If I've said it once I've said it a thousand time: Old Town is amazing
some lights in Old Town Alexandria
