Pub at Third Place

I was recently at the Pub at Third Place for a big ol' gathering of friends. The menu had a Greek/Middle East style bend to it and had all sorts of delicious looking options, and I made a classic mistake that is typical of me: I ordered lamely.

Instead of ordering a big fresh falafal sandwich with piping hot pub fries, I ordered a plate of roasted garbanzo beans and a plate of beets. The garbanzo beans were billed as Spicy Chickpeas with aleppo, cayenne, ancho & ghost chilis. Sounded awesome. The reality was more a drinkin' snack than a meal... they were very salty, very greasy, and very much not at all spicy. Between the aleppo, the cayenne, the ancho and the (for god sake!) ghost chili, I would have anticipated a little tongue warming and was disappointed when it wasn't there.

The second thing I ordered was a beet salad. I love beets, and this dish was advertised as roasted beets with parsley and cumin in walnut oil. Sounded Delicious. Unfortunately, the reality was mealy beets absolutely overwhelmed with a cumin paste so strong I couldn't eat the dish. Dang!

I should have ordered any of the number of other delicious sounding things on the menu... salads, braised greens, butternut squash soup, the afore mentioned falaful and fries, hummus, green olive tapenade, the list goes on. I am pretty sure the problem was, overall, my ordering choices. So it goes!

Mawadda Cafe

A message to the south enders (heck, a message to everybody!): Did you realize that we have an outstanding falafel/kabab restaurant down here in Hillman City/Rainier Beach? I'd driven past Mawadda Cafe, in the somewhat unappealing mini-strip mall at Graham and Rainier, many times and just recently decided to stop in.

I entered with the intent of ordering a falafel sandwich ($5.99) but immediately got distracted by the veggie combo ($9.99), which I ordered to go. There were quite a few vegetarian options on the menu, including falafel, dolmas, spanakopita, salad, hummus, and a veggie patty made with eggplant, zucchini and potato.

When I got home and opened the box, I was delighted to see all of the (made from scratch!) components of my combo: two falafel patties, two dolmas, a big well tucked triangle of spanakopita, a container of hummus, a warm pita, a container of cucumber yogurt sauce, a container of garlic sauce, and a big pile of salad. And I was even more delighted, upon tasting each item, to realize that everything was absolutely delicious, possibly even the best versions I'd ever had. Everything was perfectly spiced and bursting with fresh flavor. The spanakopita was packed with lemony spinach and cheese and was notably fantastic.

The falafel had a most exquisite crust. I've never had anything quite like it... it was highly textured and fried to a delicious brown but didn't feel greasy. The inside was moist and well seasoned. Unless you live really close by, I'd recommend eating at the restaurant (rather than "to go") so that you can experience the falafel hot.

There were all kinds of goodies on the menu that I'd love to try, including homemade chai and four different types of middle eastern pastries (baklava, busma, burma and baluri). The refrigerated drink case had a few interesting beverages in it too, including a mint flavored yogurt drink and mango lassi.

What a great discovery!!

Daphne's Greek Cafe

Was recently down in the brand spankin' new mini-metropolis that has sprung up in North Renton, hungry, and not sure which of the many mid-price, not exactly "fast food" chain restaurants to visit. Eventually it was a giant advertisement on the side of Daphne's Greek Cafe offering a sandwich slathered in "fire feta" that drew me in.

Daphne's has a few good looking vegetarian options, including a falafel sandwich. The sandwich I was chasing had a garden burger patty between warm pita rounds and lettuce and tomato and a spicy feta mix (fire feta, duh), with choice of fries or rice pilaf and salad, for $5.99. Not bad.

Got it to go, and by time I got home things were cold and not quite all that inspiring. It wasn't gross by any stretch, but probably quite a bit better when it was warm and soft.

My dining companions ordered their sandwiches with fries, and per usual Greek restaurant tradition, they were pretty danged good, even cold and soggy at home. I sort of regretted ordering the rice/salad option. The salad was a standard simple Greek salad, while the rice pilaf was more or less just plain rice.

There was ample ketchup and yogurt sauce, even to go, which I appreciated.

It wasn't a negative dining experience, especially for the price, and all felt relatively healthy. However, the "to-go" experience probably wasn't worth repeating. In addition to the dimenishmet of deliciousness due to cooling, the meal generated a rather huge amount of garbage in the form of rigid plastic trays and lids.

Ali Baba

Ali Baba is on Broadway just north of Pho Cyclo, and I’ve walked past it many times admiring the tempting plastic window display of crinkle cut fries and gyros.

Finally went into to eat, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the vegetarian section of the menu dominated the reader board, and that there was a list of about a dozen delicious looking vegetarian fillings for a warm pita sandwich. I was jonseing for falaful in particular, but the other choices included fried cauliflower, spinach, fava beans, and many more.
I got the full meal, which came with a choice of salad, fries or rice, and I got the salad. My dining companion ordered the fries and upon tasting them realized I had made a mistake. They were sprinkled with some sort of delicious and unusual subtle seasoning and I could have eaten a whole plate.
The falaful was freshly fried and delicious, and the sandwich came with the usual ice burg, parsley sprinkles, sliced raw onion and a remarkably un-salty (in a good way) garlic yogurt sauce all wrapped in a fresh, soft, warm pita.

I love going in to a restaurant and finding more than a tiny handful of choices suitable for a vegetarian, and this place excelled in that department.

Ali Baba

(206) 860-6826

408 Broadway E
Seattle, WA 98102