In our neverending quest to eat the circuit of GNRs, REB, MiL, and I had dinner at Salam last night. We met MiL hiding in the parking lot in her car. She rolled down her window (just a crack) and asked, fearfully, if we were sure that we were in the right place. We asked her to trust us and head inside. Chuckling about how we "always take her to the most
interesting places," she agreed.
The reports on the decor at Salam are not exaggerated. There is none. But, we were greeted warmly by both our host and the wonderful smells, so we dove into the menu. We ordered double hummus with shawarma, 8 falafel balls ($.25 each, seriously?!), Jerusalem salad, and cucumber/yogurt salad. We finished with a pair of ktayef.
Hummus/Shawarma Combo - This was excellent. Best hummus I've ever had. It is so very creamy and smooth. It seemed to have a higher tahini content then what I am used to, and I loved it. The schawarma was also superb. Meaty, slightly charred, tender, and very flavorful. The pool of meat juices that developed mingled with the hummus and soaked into our pita with each dip. Yum. We go to Pita Inn with MiL fairly regularly, and all agreed that this hummus/schawarma combo destroyed the Pita Inn version.
Falafel - These, too, were wonderful. Crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside, and full of herby flavor (fresh parsley, I believe). We ate with pita, Jerusalem salad, tahini, and the sambal-like hot sauce, making little mini falafel sandwiches. Great stuff.
Jerusalem Salad - This was nothing to write home about. Fresh but bland tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers, dressed so lightly, I wasn't even sure they were dressed. It worked, however, as a condiment for the other dishes, so we were glad to have it. As a stand-alone salad, this would have been a loser.
Cucumber-Yogurt Salad - Another miss here. This is a standard dish that I order at every middle-eastern place that I eat. Salam's version is very minty, and clearly used dried mint to get there. The chewy black flecks of dried mint were somewhat unpleasant. Oddly enough, everyone else at Salam seemed to be ordering mint tea all night, and for that, they used fresh mint. Bah.
Ktayef - We had two. The first was described as walnut, but I thought I tasted apples in it as well. It was delicious. Kinda like a cinnamony, dry apple pie filling inside of a syrup-soaked pancake, folded and crimped to look like a meat pie. The other was filled with cheese. Not dessert cheese like blintzes, cheesecake, or cannoli, but salted, savory cheese, like ham-and-cheese sandwich cheese. Odd, but also quite good.
Service had a split personality. As I said above, we were warmly greeted. The warmth extended through the ordering process. When I sent our server away for more time to peruse the menu, and when I asked for some tahini, I got, "No problem, no problem, my friend." Once our food was delivered, he disappeared. We ate, we chatted, we chatted some more. We didn't see him again until we flagged him down to get the check. Water glasses were never filled. We were never asked if we wanted anything else or if we wanted to-go containers for our leftovers. Odd.
MiL commented that she would really have liked some coffee to close the meal and enjoy with our dessert. Since nobody offered and nobody else in the place was drinking coffee, we decided it probably wouldn't be any good even if they did have it.
Bottom line: The food was great and was a terrific bargain. We will return. (MIL ended up loving the food, and would happily return as well.)
I don't know what you think about dinner, but there must be a relation between the breakfast and the happiness. --Cemal Süreyya