Exotic arabian-style arches decorate the front of the otherwise small unasuming building in the heart of a city crowded with Mexican restaurants and Latino businesses. A painted mural along the side of the restaurant depicting an outdoor food market with multi-ethnic foods, hint the approaching visitors to the culinary treasures laying inside waiting to be discovered. As you walk into the store section, your senses are greeted with the exotic smells and sights of middle-eastern pastries, incense, spices, gourmet deli meats, wines, and a delicious kitchen aroma snaking its way from the rear of the restaurant. The store offers a broad selection of middle-eastern products, gourmet european cheeses, and hard to find dried/cured meats, and a very good selection of wine and beer as well. In the rear of the store, alongside the wine cellar, is an impressive refridgerated display case full of freshly made baklava and and a wide assortment of gourmet deserts. Inside the restaurant section, one feels instantly at ease, with the lived-in, aged look of the small room whose yellowed walls are covered with tapestry-like fabric, winding grape leaves, and dimly lit lantern-like light fixtures. An enviable collection of aging vintage beer bottles line the top of the wall almost all the way around the room. Patches on the floor and wall seem to tell the place’s story of perseverance despite countless change over the years. Every visitor will quickly notice the enormous, wall-high wooden shelves filled with an impressive selection of brew. The bottled beer list is a respectable 75-100, with representative brews from a plethora of Asian, South American, and European countries. Equally impressive is the array of mediteranian and middle-eastern entrees on the food menu. The delicious greek gyros, stuffed with warm lamb meat and minty yogurt and cucumber sauce, have been a long time favorite of the regulars who frequent the restaurant. If you want to be daring, order the Middle Eastern Sampler (hummus, baba ghanoush, stuffed grape leaves, yogurt cheese, feta, and pita bread), or order the Wine Drinker’s Delight (an assortment of rich, appetizing gourmet cheeses) with a good bottle of wine (or beer, of course). The tiny space can get crowded during lunch and dinner, but the wait staff is attentive and unfailing. There is no question why this establishment has been around over 30 years.
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