says... > Susan wrote: > > > > I have been craving Middle Eastern food! Any where in this town to get > > some? PLEASE? > > > > Susan > > then Werner wrote: > > > tonight's a good night for Ararat, 111 E. North Loop. > > the belly dancer starts shortly after 8pm which means making > > a reservation is always a good idea on a Thursday. > > bring your own wine... > By all means, go to Ararat for the entertainment, and take your wine > ("bring" is not the proper word choice BTW, unless Mr. Werner is posting > from the restaurant), but DON'T eat the food. > Once more I'll repeat, go to Phoenicia, it's take-out only, but no one > else in town does this food as well. I also like Phoenicia. What they do, they do very well. However, their menu is take out and limited. But, their gyros and shwarma are unmatched in Austin. (Sorry about the spelling....) Their sandwiches are delightful. As to Ararat, it's been a while since I went to Ararat - it's a long drive from Beaumont. However, when I lived in Austin, I went frequently. The food was consistently good. I enjoyed everything I ate there. As to authenticity, the middle east is a rather large region. I've heard many people criticize the restaurant for not being "authentic". On the other hand, two friends from different parts of the middle east have gone there with me and praised it highly. Both of my friends said about the same thing, "It's not quite like what mama made, but it is good, and like what I have been told is served in another part of the middle east." One commented that the dolmas were larger than mama used to make. The other said they were much smaller than her mama used to make. Complaints about authenticity are often difficult to make with authority. I used this example in another post, so if you read that feel free to skip the paragraph. Let's talk about "American" food. Let's go to Threadgills (OK, the Threadgills we remember fondly from years past, before Eddie got overwhelmed by the failed Scholtz Garten project, or the south Austin restaurant). Is it "American" food? Of course not - there's no boiled New England dinner! There's no luau! There's no Maryland crab cakes! And even if we focus on the southern part of this country, we could still find omissions. Even though Threadgills cooks their veggies longer than many people like, they don't cook them as long as an old southern cook would. Here's the next thing to consider. Cuisines are not cast in stone. Look at Chinese food. As the Chinese expanded into the land that is now China, their cuisine was changed to meet the conditions that people found. Cajuns eat differently than their Acadian ancestors. They have different ingredients. The Peking Palace in Round Rock has a beautiful Jalepeno Chicken. It's served with jalapeno peppers and black beans. A good adaptation of local ingredients to the Chinese idiom. (Peking Palace is a nice strip shopping center place to go for a casual meal. They're in the strip with Randall's on IH-35 in Round Rock.) Similarly, Ararat has a wonderful dish with serrano peppers. I loved it. Is it a classic middle eastern dish? Well, I doubt they have serrano peppers there. So, it's an adaptation. One that works. Is it still middle eastern? Well, my two middle eastern friends wished they'd ordered it instead of what they had ordered, even though they liked what they ordered very much. Mike
Austin, TX