The Unvegan » Mediterranean

Mantee, not Manatee

The Unvegan — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:00:01 +0000

Yes, I would like meat in my hummos.

When my buddy recommended heading to a place called Mantee in Studio City, I was really excited to eat a sea cow and hoped the manatees were farm-raised (because we all know they are endangered in the wild). But he quickly corrected me, saying that the restaurant was lacking that all-important second “a” and was actually Mediterranean. And one look at the menu showed this was not your typical Mediterranean. There were no schwarma wraps to be seen here and instead items like that were replaced by unique Lebanese, Turkish and Armenian delights.

How I labne...

We decided to go big and started off with a nice round of appetizers. A couple had vegetables and I did not partake in such things, but the others were nothing short of delicious. The first was the Hummos Cocktail, which came topped with filet mignon and pine nuts. This was a great way to start things up and was quite tasty. It wasn’t too oily like some hummos can get, but was not at all dry and had great flavor. Plus, it never hurts to have meat on top. Next was the labne, which is a thick yogurt dip flavored with a little mint and olive oil. It is awesome with pita and while not as popular as hummos in general, it is definitely awesome.

Eat the namesake of Mantee and you will not be eating manatee. I swear.

The third appetizer I got into was simply called Mantee’s “Traditional.” Here’s where things got pretty interesting. This dish fell under the category of Hot Appetizers and consisted of oven-baked boat-shaped “ravioli” (really more like dumplings), filled with ground beef and topped with a garlic yogurt sauce and some sumac. I’ve got to say that this is a must-eat at Mantee. The dumplings were decadent and the garlic yogurt sauce struck a perfect balance of garlic and tart. This appetizer really had it all. I really could have made a meal out of this and the other appetizers and I would have left Mantee a happy man. Yet, I did not stop there, and I still left Mantee a happy man, just a more stuffed one.

The yogurt kebab finale is a worthy ending.

I followed up the trio of appetizers with their Yogurt Kebab. I hadn’t seen a yogurt kebab anywhere since visiting Turkey nearly three years ago, so I was really happy to see it again. Until seeing it on the menu, I didn’t even realized I missed the thing, but I knew it had to be mine. And it was a wise choice. This kebab consisted of seasoned beef that had been removed from the stick and doused in that same delicious yogurt sauce as Mantee’s “Traditional.” In this case, though, the yogurt sauce not only held its own, but served to temper the strong seasoning of the meat. It was bliss on a plate and I was one happy unvegan.

So would I recommend Mantee? Oh hell yes. Just be sure you’re ready to spend a bit of money. It’s not overpriced and not really expensive for LA, but things can add up and you don’t want to miss out on their delicious offerings. I’m looking forward to returning one day for lunch and bringing any adventurous eater who wants something more than your typical Mediterranean fare.

Steak and Fries at Cayenne

The Unvegan — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:00:48 +0000

Get those verts off of me.

On Friday night, I was lucky enough to be invited to an all-expenses-paid dinner courtesy of the Chulews. We headed to a place in a strange part of town that isn’t quite West Hollywood and isn’t quite Beverly Hills called Cayenne Cafe. Not to be confused with the pepper or vehicle, Cayenne was a sort of upscale Middle Eastern restaurant with a side of steakhouse. Being Passover, I was a little bit limited by the menu, because I couldn’t get anything with pita. Fortunately, there was that whole steakhouse thing going on and I could take advantage of that.

Please de-cucumber my water. Thanks.

I went with their Steak Bearnaise ($20), which was a top sirloin steak with bearnaise sauce, garlic herb fries and something ridiculous called haricots verts. I asked the waitress what this was and she told me it was green beans. Seriously? Then call them freaking green beans. Stop trying to trick me with your French shenanigans! And speaking of shenanigans, my water came to me with a slice of cucumber in it. Who wants cucumber in their water? I’s rather drink from the LA River. Fortunately, the water hadn’t yet been poured in the glass and the cucumber was just sitting on the ice. I carefully removed this intruder and went on with my life.

Oh, back to the steak. Once learning that the haricots verts were green beans, I was ready to order without except that the girlfriend volunteered to eat them. Well at least they wouldn’t be going to waste. My medium rare top sirloin didn’t take too long to arrive and looked monstrous. This thing was cut like a filet, but however it was cut, I was excited to get involved with it. I started slicing away and each time I cut a piece off, I felt the need to cut it again because of the size. What I tasted was a perfectly cooked steak. It was nice and juicy, and although tougher than a filet, it still had great flavor. The bearnaise sauce went great with the steak because it had a very subtle taste that complemented the meat rather than overwhelmed it like some sauces are known to do.

The fries were a delicious side and almost had a fast-food-like crispiness to them. This may sound bad, but think about eating McDonald’s fries with garlic and herbs you’ll find you’re in a pretty happy place.

So Cayenne done me good. The cucumber and fancy words for green beans were a little bit frightening, but they were overcome by a tasty steak at a good price. The fries made a great side and if they can cut down on their green shenanigans they could really go far.

Greek Tapas at Mediterraneo

The Unvegan — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:00:38 +0000

Hummus and tapas?

While wandering the Hermosa Pier in search for some sort of food to eat, the girlfriend and I discovered a place called Mediterraneo. It seemed like one of the few places on the pier that would be a better restaurant than a bar, so we decided to check it out. While the name implies Greek food, we were surprised to find that this wasn’t some simple gyro and pita place (although that wouldn’t necessarily have been a bad thing). Instead, we found that they were a tapas place that didn’t limit itself to the Spanish style. In addition to Spanish, there was also a nice Greek influence that could be found in menu items like hummus, beets and feta cheese.

I decided to start out with some hummus and pita as a warm-up, which turned out not to be the wisest decision. The hummus came out and looked like a scoop of ice cream, which was not a good sign. You see, I like my hummus to be creamy and the fact that this hummus retained that shape was a little frightening. Nonetheless, I gave it a go. As expected, it was way dry and just not very, but I still had a couple more plates to go.

Not meaty, but still good.

My next tapa was called Patatas Bravas. These were fingerling tomatoes cooked in some spicy tomato sauce with paprika aioli. These things were really good and really well-seasoned. The potatoes were nice and soft and flavorful and the paprika flavoring was a nice addition to the mix.

My final dish was called Sobrasada. This was composed of cured pork sausage from Mallorca, Spain, toasted baguette, manchego and quince. I wasn’t entirely sure how this would look when it came, but when it arrived I saw that it was all already put together. It looked pretty awesome and tasted quite good too. The quince was really sweet and the manchego offered a nice balance to the sweetness. The only issue with it was that somewhere along the line, something got really oily. As a devout unvegan, I am no stranger to oil and have no problem with that juice, but the trouble here was that the oil seeped into the bread and created a bit of a sogfest. The delicious taste was all there, but there was something lost in the texture.

Bread with an oily underbelly.

Although my dishes were pretty good, the girlfriend actually ended up getting something even better, called Bistec (just a fancy Spanish word for steak). This was some really juicy and flavorful thin-cut filet mignon. It didn’t have much seasoning, which was fine because it tasted just right as it was.

Mediterraneo surprised me in a few ways. First, it taught me that tapas didn’t need to be limited to Spanish food, but it also taught me that the Hermosa Pier actually has some good food. Sure, I like bar food, but this was a place to sit down and actually enjoy the pier without needing a beer in hand.

Lacking Meat at Noosh Deli

The Unvegan — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:00:22 +0000

Three prongs of meat?

In North Hollywood there is a deli unlike any I had ever seen before. Rather than being filled with cold cuts, pastrami or Italian sandwiches, this deli has food with more of a Greek and Armenian flair. It is called Noosh Deli and although not the usual deli, I figured it had to be worth a try. Scanning the menu, I decided any Greek place had to have some good gyros, so I ordered their Beef Gyro Sandwich (with fries and a drink for 6.99). It came with lettuce, tomato, onion and yogurt sauce. I ordered without the veggies and waited 7 or 8 minutes until the sandwich was prepped and ready to go.

Can I get some meat with my yogurt sandwich?

I opened up the bag and was immediately disappointed with what I found. No, there weren’t any vegetables, but there was still plenty of reason to be upset. In my pita I found not one, not two, but three whole strips of gyros. Is there a meat shortage somewhere? Even if I was inclined to eat vegetables I would have felt that the sandwich was lacking in protein, but without the veggies it looked even worse. Then I noticed that the other end of the sandwich was a whole lot heavier than the one I had opened up. Could there be meat hiding in there? No. Instead, what I found was enough yogurt sauce to cover a few sandwiches. The sauce easily outweighed the meat and also required use of a fry to be evenly distributed.

Despite the odd quantities, nothing would matter if these gyros were awesome. So were they? Sadly, the answer is no. The meat was strangely rubbery and relatively flavorless. The lack of flavor could be due to the amount of yogurt, but whatever it was, it was a sandwich not worth ordering again. The best part of the meal was definitely the fries. They were crinkly, crunchy and perfectly salted. I’d go back for the fries, but for meat I will definitely look elsewhere.

Going Mediterranean at Mezza

The Unvegan — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:00:01 +0000

Who thought onions were a good idea?

Since my buddy wanted to eat something healthy (foolish, I know), we thought we would try out some Mediterranean food nearby. Since I’ve already hit up a few of the local places, we looked to Yelp to find something new and discovered a place called Mezza Grill in Culver City. We sat down inside and were greeted by a mildly friendly waitress with bells hanging by her waist that must have some Mediterranean significance. But considering she was blond and likely of some sort of Germanic or Scandinavian descent, the bell thingies came off as somewhat gimmicky. Oh well, gimmick or not, I was ready to eat.

The menu was of typical Mediterranean fare and prices for platters of schwarma and such ran about 12-14 bucks. This wasn’t too out of the ordinary, but there was something missing. No sandwiches. I’ve never been to a Mediterranean place that didn’t at least offer or a doner or a wrap. Perhaps that sort of option exists for lunch, but I was kind of sad it wasn’t there for dinner. Instead, I just ordered the Chicken Schwarma platter. It came with a choice of hummus and then a choice between fatoush and tabouleh salad. Knowing that I wanted neither of those latter choices, I asked if I could get both spicy and regular hummus. The waitress said it was cool, but was quick to tell us that I was only getting that because the place wasn’t too crowded. Really, blonde waitress? Couldn’t just give it to me without a caveat? I guess I wouldn’t be too friendly if I had to walk around with bells all night either.

Don't expect to get two hummus choices on busy nights.

Before the platter arrived, we were given a little snack of pita chips and some sort of olive oil dip. It was quite tasty and a good lead-in to the real meal. The schwarma platter arrived and I was very upset to see onions laying upon the top of my chicken heap. What the hell is that? The menu had made no mention of the onions and I brushed them away disdainfully before getting down to the eating. The chicken had a great flavor, although a little mushy at times, and went really well with the garlic sauce. Both hummus flavors were surprisingly good and also tasted great with the chicken. I made myself mini-wraps with the toasted pita we were given, so it was kind of like eating a sandwich, but since I had to do all the work in making the sandwich, a bit of the fun was lost.

By the time I finished, I was stuffed beyond belief and slipped into a bit of a Mediterranean food coma. Mezza did a pretty good job of serving me dinner, but it still would have been nice to have had a sandwich option. After all, if you go there to eat healthy, you shouldn’t have to order a huge platter of dinner.

Further Fusion at Kabob Express

The Unvegan — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:32:24 +0000

Not flashy

Joining the flashy and stylish trucks at the Haiti Fundraiser was an old-fashioned looking truck called Kabob Express. Fusion is a pretty big part of these trucks and Kabob Express has embraced that with their Mexi-Terranean fusion. Mexican and Mediterranean food is kind of a fusion match made in food heaven. Schwarma is awesome and that succulent meat can be thrown in pretty much anything to make it taste better. Kabob Express knew that and took advantage of it by offering schwarma in tacos and burritos. Hoping to save room for more food, I ordered myself a Mexi-Terranean taco.

Ok, maybe there is a lot of cilantro. But look at all that chicken!

This fused food came with chicken schwarma, hummus, cilantro, spicy tahini sauce, tomato and onion. I ordered it without those last two unvegan offenders and waited a minute for the taco. When it came, the thing was loaded up. It came with a fork shoved in it, which was nice, because the insides kept flowing out. It also came with some tzatziki sauce for some extra flavor if necessary. I started eating and realized that yes, this was some awesome fusion. It was kind of like a bite-sized chicken schwarma sandwich, but with a great little kick of sauce. Perfect for street-eating.

Only after finishing the taco and getting in line for the next truck did I realize that I had never paid for my taco. The thing was only $1.75 and all this was for a fundraiser, so as soon as I could, I headed back and paid up. The guy inside was certainly happy, and so was I, because it was certainly worth the money.

Turkish to go at Sofra Kabab Express

The Unvegan — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:08:39 +0000

No veggies in this doner.

About a year ago, a new Turkish restaurant opened down the street from me in Palms. I was overjoyed at this and especially happy when I saw that they were open late on weekends. Unfortunately, I went pretty soon after they opened and was kind of disappointed with the results. Lucky for them, this was before I started a meat blog, so when I finally got around to paying them another visit recently, it was my first chance to give them an unvegan review. The restaurant is called Sofra Kabab Express and although “express” is typically applied to fast food restaurants in airports, this is nothing like one of those, even encouraging people to hang around and smoke hookah (nargile in Turkish).

They run a great lunch special, which I was able to take advantage of. This was a sandwich, fries and a drink for $6.99. Not too shabby. For the sandwich, I went with the Chicken Doner (Shawarma) Sandwich. I think they threw shawarma in there so they wouldn’t scare off people looking for a regular Middle-Eastern meal. I made sure to order it without vegetables, since for some reason, people still seem to think vegetables are a good idea for a sandwich. Anyway, my sandwich was ready pretty expressly and since I’m no hookah smoker, I took it to go.

Just looking at the thing, I could tell they had made great improvements since my initial visit. The chicken was covered in a garlicky sauce and looked pretty juicy as well. Also, it was good to see that the sandwich was pretty stuffed, since there is nothing worse that a sandwich with too much bread, no matter how good the bread may be. I bit in and was quite happy. The chicken was as juicy as it looked and the sauce on it tasted great. In the Middle-Eastern style, I loaded some of my fries into the sandwich, which only enhanced the thing. The fries were nicely seasoned and good on their own as well.

This was a great stop for a reasonably priced lunch. I’m glad I decided to pay them another visit and now I’m looking forward to taking advantage of their late hours.

Road Tripping to the Mad Greek Cafe

The Unvegan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:48:57 +0000

Maddeningly Greek.

My usual drive to Las Vegas involves getting there as fast as possible to gamble and returning as fast as possible to cry into my pillowcase after losing copious amounts of money. This trip, however, was a bit different. Rather than a rush back home, we took our time and stopped for lunch.

Anyone who has made the drive between Los Angeles and Las Vegas knows of the Mad Greek Cafe. Billboards seem to advertise the “Best Gyro” every few miles, so for our little road trip lunch, we thought a trip to Baker, California and a stop at the Mad Greek Cafe would be worth our while.

Even though it was well-past 2:00, the place was packed. A menu on the wall had a surprisingly short list of Greek food and was instead populated with more American food like hamburgers. One of the Greek items was the gyro, and since this was supposed to be the best gyro, like ever, I had to try it for myself. The menu said it came with tomatoes and onions, but I ordered mine without. It also came with rice and tzatziki sauce. I placed my order and took a seat to wait.

Why the little green invasion?

When my gyro arrived, I was both stunned and disgusted. Overflowing from beneath the gyro meat seemed to be thousands of little lettuce leaves. I would have thought the best gyro in the USA would have at least warned me what was inside so I could order without it. Instead I was left to dissect the gyro and slowly remove the nefarious leaves. I opened up the little container of tzatziki sauce and was sad to find that it was dominated by cucumbers. Yes, I know tzatziki is a cucumber sauce, but usually I can get around the chunks of cucumber. This was not the case at the Mad Greek Cafe. Instead, I was putting paltry amounts of tzatziki on my gyros.

Once the sandwich was edible, I began to eat. It wasn’t a bad sandwich, but somehow the glam of being the best gyro in the USA faded away as I exerted myself to remove the lettuce. The meat was pretty good, and worth stopping for if you get hungry on the way to or from Vegas, but certainly not worth visiting on any sort of special trip.

Not Quite the Best of Mediterranean

The Unvegan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:41:59 +0000

Get that green stuff out of here.

It was a night for delivery and looking through LAbite, we found a good-looking Mediterranean place to order from it was called Best of Mediterranean (BOM), which is quite a boast to be put in a name, even for a place in West Hollywood. Obviously a place by that name had to be checked out. I was too hungry for a schwarma sandwich, so I ordered the chicken schwarma dinner plate. This came with hummos, tabouli, rice and garlic sauce. Knowing that tabouli is some strange mix of greens, I tried to order without it, but the website wouldn’t allow me. This was a big fail on the part of both LAbite and BOM, because many other restaurants allow you to customize dishes. Unfortunately, I knew that vegetables would be dying for my sake that night and wouldn’t even have the pleasure of being digested.

My food arrived and I opened it up in the hopes that somehow they had forgotten the tabouli. Unfortunately, this was not the case, but luckily they has relegated it to a corner of the styrofoam that ensured it didn’t make contact with my real food.

The real food tasted alright, but not great. The chicken was semi-rubbery and although the garlic cause was good, none of it really added up to the Best of Mediterranean that it boasted to be. I would recommend this place for a quick, easy delivery, but there are many better Mediterranean options to be explored in LA.

The Hummus Factory

The Unvegan — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:06:01 +0000

Nothing compliments a sandwich quite like fries.

Situated just off the main stretch of downtown El Segundo is The Hummus Factory. The name is really false advertising because it certainly is not a factory and also makes a lot more than just hummus. To be precise, they should have named it The Middle-Eastern Restaurant.

When it came time to order, I chose the Chicken Kabob Sandwich, which I assumed would be like schwarma. The only things that stood in my path to an unvegan lunch were cabbage and pickles, which I made sure to order without. The sandwich also came with salad or fries and I (surprisingly) opted for the fries. To top it off, I got a side of hummus in the expectation that the rest of my food would not quench my unvegan hunger. That proved to be a wise choice.

When I got my food, it was pretty not bad, but the sandwich was severely lacking in garlic sauce. I don’t know if this is some sort of LA thing, but I’ve noticed these Middle-Eastern restaurants just don’t put enough effort into the garlic flavoring in their sandwiches. Of course, they offer sides of garlic sauce, but there should always be enough in it initially to make me happy. The saving grace, not surprisingly, was the hummus, and for a restaurant called The Hummus Factory, it better be.