‘shawarma’


Surprisingly Persian at Noho Royal Garden

July 16th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

At the Noho, Noho Cabana.

Heading into Noho Royal Garden in North Hollywood, I kind of expected to find myself in a typical Middle-Eastern style restaurant.  But no, there were no rugs on the wall, no decorative lamps or beads.  Instead, it felt like I had just walked into a Mexican cabana.  Part outside, part inside, with umbrellas, trees and stones, this was a perfect place to escape from work…well as long as the food was any good. Continue Reading»


Turkish to go at Sofra Kabab Express

December 11th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit
No veggies in this doner.

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). Continue Reading»


The Ultimate Shawarma at Sunnin Cafe

September 9th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit
Fit for a king.  Or sheik.  Or whatever.

Fit for a king. Or sheik. Or whatever.

In the quest to finally find some good schwarma in LA, I made my way to a little Lebanese place called Sunnin Cafe.  I have fond memories of delicious Lebanese food back in Michigan, so I hoped that this place would be at least a little awesome.  Getting there was a little confusing, though, as it appeared as though there were two Sunnins, right across the street from each other.  On further inspection, it looked like the larger of the two is unopened and the small place will be moving in there soon.

The inside of the little cafe gave the appearance of a generic diner.  There were seats

Mmm spinning meat.

Mmm spinning meat.

at a counter and no more than ten small tables.  The big difference, though, was the strong smell of the Middle East and the rotating spool of meat where a deep-fryer might typically belong.  I also loved that they made no effort to hide the fact that the cooks were Hispanic.  It’s a pretty widely known fact that kitchens of ethnic restaurants all over LA are filled with Hispanics, despite the fact that waiters and such fit into the ethnicity.  It was refreshing to see that Sunnin didn’t hide that aspect of their business.

We ordered some “hommos” (love the spelling) to start things off.  Continue Reading»


Beer Me Some Breckenridge Agave Wheat

The taste of skiing?

Colorado is definitely a beer state, and not just because Coors comes from the Rocky Mountain State.  No, it is also home to New Belgium (of Fat Tire fame) and seemingly countless other micro and craft breweries.  While in Breckenridge for a ski weekend, I decided I had to at least try one of these, and because it turned out to be the only one available at dinner, my choice happened to come from the creatively named Breckenridge Brewery.  The brewery, by the way, is actually no longer in Breckenridge, having expanded and moved to Denver in 1992.

Continue Reading»