I couldn’t decide what to chose and I’m still disappointed that I didn’t get to try absolutely everything. I’m planning another trip to Boston so I’m hoping to try more then. For now, we’ll both have to suffer with the mere 5 things I tried. First, Shakshuka. Lon is very familiar with the Israeli style of this dish, a soft egg amidst a sea of tomato sauce. I loved this curried version with some pita crumbs and a soft doughey bread to dip. It was so comforting but they should give a little more bread so you can sop up all the sauce.

The Capers, Potato, and Olive pastry in a cornmeal crust was really nice, something new for me, but nothing to rave about.

The Moroccan Spiced Doughnut had the most amazing texture. The crumb was a little tighter than most doughnuts but so tender. I loved that it was lightly spiced too, not over-powering but fragrant. I do wish the dough was seasoned though.

The Honey Bun was another fantastic show of dough skills. Also, un-seasoned (I wonder if they do that on purpose), but the texture is just amazing. The sweet glaze is topped with some almonds.

Inside is a nice sesame paste. The bun itself is very plain and not-sweet, but it works well all together.

The iced coffee was one of the best I’ve had too. They make them to order so you need a little patience. Everything tastes so fresh and they have such a huge menu at a pretty reasonable price ($20.41 for what I got). As we were leaving, lunch was being set up and all I could do was gaze longingly. I need to try more!

Here, they had three or four different fillings. We chose the spinach and feta, and brought it home, since we just ate. We heated it up in the oven, just as recommended, and it just wasn’t impressive. The spinach inside was sour. It seemed intentional, but we weren’t fond of it. The pastry itself was just mediocre, and here’s the major kicker; it was $8.13, a total rip off.

Lon has had Burekas before so he assured me that I would like them when we found a good one so if anyone knows where to get good Burekas in NYC, let us know!

We ordered Hummus to share, a deliciously soothing bowl. A good hummus is so soft and creamy, feeling light against the tongue, and all the flavors blend together seamlessly. This was exactly that. The tender chickpeas, an orange colored oil, tahini, and herbs gave it wonderful look.

Warm, oven fresh bread is perfect for dipping. The thicker, puffier parts are better.

Taboon, which means “oven” in Arabic, has a whole sections called “Boards”, flatbread based dishes served on the individual peels. All three of us were enticed by these, especially after seeing a few being served at nearby tables.

It was  a bit odd that Pete’s Sambusak was served first, a feta and brown egg (hard-boiled egg) stuffed bread. I didn’t dislike it, but I wasn’t that interested in it either. The feta is mostly on one side making that side nice and moist. The brown egg is put on the other side, making that side a bite dryer.

Later, my dish arrived, closely followed by Lon’s. I ordered the Eggs Taboon, sort of a make-your-own breakfast pizza. You choose two toppings (and pay for extras) to top the flatbread, which is then topped by perfectly runny eggs. I chose Merguez sausage, oven roasted tomatoes, and mozzarella, making it even more pizza-like I guess. All the ingredients were top notch and it was delicious.

Lon ordered the Lachma B’ajoon, a flatbread covered with spiced ground lamb, tahini, and aromatic toasted pine nuts. He added the Merquez, making it even more decadent but worth the comfort.

The three of us were pretty happy with the meal. The service was good. It’s a well lit, clean and comfortable atmosphere. They have clean bathrooms (a must for my need to drink coffee at brunch). The roughly $21 per person (including tax and tip) is well deserved. Plus, we ordered an extra dish to share so you could easily get away with a little less, but I think you’ll want to share that hummus.

I tasted some of my cousins hummus, which was pretty good, thick, and didn’t skimp on the tahini. The flatbread is also freshly made in a tandoor, with the good texture of stretchy pizza dough.

The Gyro Platter is horrendous though, the meat tasting like highly processed microwaved frozen food. The generous portion can’t help there.

Combo #2 included a platter of good basmati rice (Is that pat of butter traditional?), the flatbread, so-so Kubideh (ground sirloin), and impressively moist Joojeh (chicken breast).

The salad was fresh but the dressing they gave us tasted like heavily herbed windex.

The food’s kind of hit or miss and for stuff served on plastic and styrofoam plates, $29.10 (with one bottle of water and a hot tea) is kind of much. We’re not likely to go again.

We started with the Mixed Appetizer Plate, which looks eerily similar to the one at Ali Baba. The Cacik was my favorite, thick and tangy. It seemed stronger than most. The hummus was a bit dry, the White Bean Salad standard. There was two made of eggplant. One was nice and smokey, the other flavored in tomato sauce (Soslu Patlican). The Acili Ezme was great but I wished for a tad more spice. For some reason, I can’t remember the Spinach tarator.

Of course, all this needs to be eaten with bread. The first one brought out was dry and cold. The next two or three were warm, softer, and therefore better.

There was also a little dish of sauces, possibly given with the bread. The two on the ends were like watery Tzaziki and the one in the middle was a nicely spiced tomato sauce (possbily some meat in there) and oil.

I ordered the Kagit Kebab, which is like lamb stew in parchment paper. I loved the potatoes, waxy not powdery, the lamb was tender, and cooked carrots are not my thing but they fit in here.

Lon ordered Manti, beef dumplings in yogurt, which seemed a little bigger than usual, but otherwise had their usual charm, fresh made dough with little balls of meat.

Tim and Alex were both drawn to the Stuffed Chicken, presented beautifully, but I didn’t care for it, for the same reason I rarely like chicken at restaurants: it’s just not as moist or as flavorful as other meats. The sauce has flavor, but it’s not absorbed all the way into the meat.

Tammy’s Chicken Yogurt Kebab on the other hand was moist and flavorful so applause there.

For dessert, we didn’t catch any of the names (we really couldn’t understand what they were saying) and both desserts were new to us. This one was like milky jello.

We all loved the second dessert and all I can tell you about the name is that it starts with a “Q”. It was something similar to mozzarella, covered in chopped angel hair stuff, drizzled with syrup. It’s baked so that the cheese is nice and melty. The “crust” topped with chopped nuts added crunch and the syrup creates that perfect combination of sweet and salty.

We washed it down with Turkish coffees and teas.

I can’t help but compare A La Turka to Ali Baba, mainly because they have such similar menus. A La Turka is a bit more expensive than Ali Baba, but still perfectly reasonable ($35 per person, including tax and tip). For the most part, the food and atmosphere at A La Turka is better, but the bread at Ali Baba is better, which is pretty important, so I’m a little torn on this one…I think I favor A La Turka though.

Well, we didn’t have much time this evening but we rushed through a dinner and the staff was very accommodating. They start you off with some complimentary labne (strained yogurt) and olives. Lon loved the olives while I licked up the Lebanese yogurt. I seriously love Middle Eastern and Greek yogurts. They must laugh at Dannon over there.

The Shishito Bi Labne was so delicious and nothing like anything I’ve had before. It seems simple, shishito peppers and onions baked in labne, in a cast iron dish, which keeps it hot throughout the meal. The varying heat of the peppers contrasting the thick creamy yogurt was such a draw for me, slathered on to the pita.

The house-made pita isn’t even that good, just mediocre, but I ate a lot anyway, as transportation for the Shishito Bi Labne to my mouth.

The Black Cod sauteed with dried Zaatar, pomegranate molasses and fennel, was recommended by our waitress. It was incredibly tender and flaky, perfectly seasoned, atop some slightly sweetened braised fennel. We both oo’d and ahh’d.

The Sardines were bony as always, a little plumper than average, but otherwise pretty standard in texture in flavor. There was a phenomenal gremolata-like mixture served on the side, made with lemon and/or lime zest ( I think), that was the highlight of the dish.

Manti, a Lebanese pasta dish stuffed with beef and lamb and covered in minted yogurt, was made so elegantly here. We first experienced this dish at Ali Baba, but thought it was quite heavy. Here, the yogurt is presented as a foam on top of the ravioli and sauce, making the dish seem substantially lighter.

These ravioli are not like the Italian kind. Here, the dough is a very thin, barely noticeable layer, surrounding little meatballs.

Lon’s favorite dish was the Duck Shawarma, presented as wraps. The meat was tender and well seasoned. The pairing of fig, pomegranate, and garlic was wonderful. One wrap was rather dry oddly, since the other wasn’t.

Lon and I had to rush this meal but were still glad to have found this place. So I can’t pronounce the name, but four out of five dishes were a hit! We’re definitely planning on coming back for a more relaxed dinner where we can really enjoy all this good, and rather unique food. Hopefully, we’ll be coming in a group so we can try more dishes. We both agreed that we’d like to order most of these dishes again.

From outside, Ali Baba Ali baba is unassuming, no more than 12 feet wide. When you walk in, it’s a tight fit, and it seems like a small place. But as you walk back, the restaurants gets wider and the ceiling goes up, and then, if you’re in a group, as we were (12 people), we went all the way to the enclosed garden, that had a large space heater. There were two other large groups in the garden with us.

The employees at Ali Baba all seem to have an accent, which made communication a bit iffy at times, but mostly things works out. Such as ordering two large plates of the Mixed Appetizers. Each includes lebni, hummus, eggplant salad, ispanak eggplant, and pilaki. These were accompanied by absolutely delicious bread, sliced into strips, lightly topped with black sesame seeds. The ispanak eggplant (which had lots of sauteed onions and peppers) was the clear winner for everyone at our half of the table. The communication issues did create confusion when we ordered lahmacun, for which Ali Baba is well known. We tried to understand what the difference was in portion size between the large plate and the appetizer plate. Our waitress explained that the appetizer was the diameter of a drinking glass and the large plate was “three pieces”. So for twelve, we asked if we need four of the large plate — and the waitress sort of shrugged and said yes. We decided to just get three plates and then another hot appetizer of Arnavut Cigeri (fried liver cubes). It turned out that the “pieces” in the large plate were each about ten inches in diamater, and nine of them were way too much for appetizers. We took three and half pieces home!

Everyone enjoyed the lahmacun, despite our ordering flaws and inability to pronounce the name. We topped them with the included flat leaf parsley, lemon, and other accoutrement. Our only complaint was that the pizza-like items were not hot enough. Temperature returned as an issue later, but let’s come back to that topic. Separately, almost everyone enjoyed the liver; it was perfectly cooked and tasted wonderful with a sprinkling of lemon and seasoned, raw, red onions.

After the appetizers were through, and a bottle or two of wine were inhaled, most people were feeling fairly full. So when the prodigal portions of entrees arrived we all breathed deeply and put our best foot forward.

Sticking with their bread skills, I ordered the Donerli Pide, a thick dough crust, stuffed with lamb gyro meat and some red peppers and tomatoes. It was basically a Turkish calzone, sans cheese. It was oily, enormous, and very tasty. Jessica ordered the Mixed Grill, a vast plate of rice pilaf, charred pepper adana kebab, shish kebab, doner, and a lamb chop. The adana was wonderful, perfectly spiced and perfect texture. Most of the other meat was mediocre, particularly due to over-cooking. Everyone at the table shared plates, and most (except Jessica) eemed to think that the winner was either my pide or Sarah and Ran’s ravioli-like dish, Manti, in a thick yogurt sauce.

After the eating fest was drawing to a close, we somehow found room in our chest cavities to expand our lungs and bellow out a “Happy Birthday” song, which was louder thanks to the waiters and nearby tables joining in; and then room in our stomachs for the wonderful cake that Jessica made.

Overall, the service at Ali Baba was good, the portions were very large (holy cow!, I mean lamb), and the prices were very reasonable. Add in the fact that there is the large space in the back yard and they don’t charge a cake cutting fee, and this is a perfect restaurant for a party. With two people celebrating birthdays, ten of us split the bill for twelve people, including a couple of bottles of wine, a built in service charge, plus we added some more on for good service and it came out to $40 per person. Very fair.

I recommend you catch the next flying carpet to Ali Baba and let us know what you think.

For more great pictures of this event, check out Sarah’s Flickr set.

We sat in the back of the restaurant and started with some babaganonouj (baba ghanoush), warm pita (not freshly made), and some crisp bread (manakish) liberally coated with za’atar (a lemony mix of herbs and spices). While the manakish was very tasty, the baba ghanoush was very acidic, even for Jessica (who enjoys more acidic foods than I do), and the pita as warm but not homemade. Fortunately, we also ordered the kibbee (kibbeh) and it was excellent. Nevertheless, as we patiently waited for our entrees, I started thinking, “oh great, just as I remembered.”

Then the entrees arrived, and things completely turned around. We ordered three dishes for the three of us to share. The chicken-filled Ouzi (phyllo dough stuffed with rice, minced meat, raisins, yogurt, and lots of spices) and lamb macloubee (tender lamb simmered with tomato sauce and layered with eggplant and rice, cooked in a pot and then turned out onto a plate) arrived first, both were enormous portions. We couldn’t hold back, and the three of us rushed the dishes. Each was better than the previous.

The ouzi was sensational! I couldn’t stop eating it. It was a great blend of spices, creamy inside, with a bit of rice and minced chicken, and crispy on the outside. It was savory and a bit sweet (because of the raisins).

The macloubee was another winner. The lamb was so tender, flaking apart, while the eggplant was not oily and still firm. The rice was perfectly cooked with just enough tomato sauce to pull the dish together, but not so much that it would be stew-like.

After a few more minutes, the Salmon Curry showed up. While I have to admit that the salmon was slightly overcooked, it tasted outstanding with the creamy sauce on top. I would not describe this dish as curry to any one else, as curry typically implies the abundant use of strong spices, typically found in East Asian cuisines (like Indian), and is not really a term used in Middle Eastern cooking. This dish was far more subtle, but flavorful. The plate was dressed with nicely cooked spinach, which included some type of pickled vegetable (we think), which none of us could identify.

The prices turned out to be very reasonable. The three of us were absolutely stuffed, and there was more than enough food for an entire additional meal (that still tasted good today). This is definitely a case where I’m thrilled I gave a restaurant a second chance; perhaps time improved the place, or the different dishes made the difference. Either way, I recommend you give Salam a first chance.