Monday, November 9, 2009

Lebanese cuisine extraordinaire

Ciao, fellow blog fans.
Had a splendid lunch last week, before all the heavy rains started, at Habibi, a nice & comfy restaurant on SW Morrison downtown - http://www.habibirestaurantpdx.com/ -
and it was delightful. My friend Sonya and I were greeted warmly (even though I'd never been there before), the service was excellent and accommodating, and we were both very very happy with the food. Afterward, as we were leaving, a person who I believe was the owners' son greeted us and thanked us for coming. Wow. And how many times does that happen at your local lunch spot, folks?
After checking their website before heading over to meet Sonya, I was astounded to see the extensive variety of selections for all mealtimes. As I write this my parrot is screaming (for attention), so I simply cannot remember what Sonya ordered, but I had a wonderful falafel sandwich. It was also gigantic -- seriously. In fact, I had the other half later, for dinner! I love falafel sandwiches, and don't often eat them. This falafel was tasty and the pita bread is huge; when the server brought a side basket of them for Sonya for whatever it was she ordered, the pitas were the size of salad plates. Sonya was going to send them back because she had plenty to eat up, but I said "Wait! I'll eat them." They were so good, no wonder I couldn't eat that other half sandwich.
I'll never forget the worst falafel sandwich I ever had, and, thankfully, no Portland restaurant, including Habibi, has ever come close. This place (now closed) served falafel that was coarse-ground and apparently barely cooked; hard, crunchy, and difficult to eat. I never went back there, of course. Oh, and of course, it was pretty expensive for a mere crunchy sandwich. Eeesh. Habibi's falafel is light years away from that. I highly recommend Habibi's falafel sandwich on its homemade pita bread.
Now the Turkish coffee was good, too -- and I hold Turkish coffee to a high standard, having eaten and drunk at Abou Karim (now closed) for years and years. I also had Turkish coffee at a place which shall remain unnamed, in which there was way too much cardamom in it and I absolutely hated it. I asked the server to take it back, and she did, but I was charged for it anyway. My friends were astonished at that. I was certainly disappointed, and never went back there, either.
I'd best be off; must attend to certain ornithological matters of the household (in other words, it's Sammy's bedtime) -- 'tis dusk, and all sleepy birds (including parrots) must rest for the night.
Deb