Eaternet went to Chiarina' last Friday. It was
our first time there. After reading the glowing
review in InPgh I had high hopes. However,
I was a little disappointed. Not that the food
was poorly prepared, at least not for the
most part, but it wasn't to my taste. Everything
was way too sour for my taste. Some people
like that. I have a friend who probably would
have loved it. Anyway, here's what we had.
Hummus - good, not spectacular
Baba ganouj - had a bitter taste, very unpleasant
Meddames - I don't like walnuts so I didn't
taste this but I think the other did.
Fettuch - salad of chick peas, kidney beans,
onion, tomatoes, cucumber dressed with lemon
and olive oil and served with at little tahini. This
was too sour tasting for me and there was too much
liquid (I'm assuming it was the lemon juice) so that
the tahini got all diluted and didn't cling to the
veggies so that it's flavor was sort of lost.
Mezza platter - contained more hummus, baba,
tabbouli, Syrian potato salad (dressed with lemon
and olive oil), and feta. The potato salad was good
this one was not too sour tasting. The tabbouli was
way, way, way too sour. Blecch!
Sleek - this was bizarre - It was very dry and was
either intended to be a Cajun version of sleek (i. e.
"blackened"!) or was burnt. In spite of that it wasn't
too bad but I much prefer the way Kassab's does it.
Pita - the pita bread was quite good. Not as thick as
you usually see but the flavor was good and it was
fresh although I don't think it was made in-house.
Syrian bread!!!! - the article had mentioned that they
only have it on Saturday's but I thought it couldn't
hurt to ask since the article was several months old
and things could have changed. It turns out that it
still is only sold on Sat. but Janet herself was there
making it as we spoke and the waitress asked if we
could get some, which we did! It was wonderful!
Fresh out of the oven. Very good.
Fried Potato Wedges - one of my dining companions
had these and we all tasted them. They were sprinkled
with paprika and served with some tahini. They were
pretty good - not burnt and no lemon! :-)
Baked kibbee - others at our table ordered this and I
had a taste. Too much bulghur and too little meat
and the meat was beef instead of lamb. What's with
that. In any case it was a relief from the omnipresent
lemon!
Stuffed grape leaves - again this was order by someone
else and there was one left when it was time to go so
I offered it a home in my doggie bag, even though I'm
not terrible fond of them I can eat them and hate to see
anything go to waste. However, this one was even
worse than others I've tried in the past. I was surprised
because this was one of the things that was raved about
in the InPgh article.
Chiarina's Special (or something to that effect) - another
of my dining companions ordered this but I did taste it
and he didn't remark on whether or not he liked it. It's
a chicked dish.
Lemonade - for once not enough lemon and not sweet
enough. Not much stronger that those glasses of water
with the lemon slice in them that you get in some
restaurants. (Well, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little.)
I hope I haven't left anything out. A few other "complaints":
Pre-sweetened and lemoned iced tea from a mix. No Coke
only Pepsi products. (Since they're in the city I try to avoid
drinking plain water because it usually tastes bad so I was
hard put to find something palatable to drink and I must
have liquid with my meal. Lemonade was not what I really
wanted because I knew most of the dishes would have lots
of lemon in them so it would be overkill, but it was the only
choice left. :-
The best thing was the Syrian bread. I may never go
there again for a meal but if I'm ever in the area on a
Sat. I'll stop in and pick up some Syrian bread to take
home. Then I'll go to Kassab's for dinner.
KatePittsburgh, PA