I bet the smell inside the Caspian Grill makes your mouth water, what with its menu of grilled lamb, chicken, steak and vegetables. I don’t know for sure, since I’ve had my food delivered, but each time the delivery bag had a wonderful aroma. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Mediterranean’
Caspian Grill
Sunday, November 15th, 2020Madistan
Sunday, March 13th, 2016
I’m really digging Madistan, a Pakistani and Mediterranean restaurant located in the Aberdeen Apartments on campus. If it wasn’t so difficult to get there by car, I’d eat there more regularly.
You can’t go wrong with the shawarma ($5.99). The tender, seasoned bits of beef are complemented, not buried, with veggies, and the diced pickles add a slight sour flavor. The room-temperature pita was surprisingly thin, but it held the contents without fail.
Also worth ordering is the chicken tikka roll ($4.99). The shredded chicken was surprisingly moist and had a nice touch of spice to it. The sliced onions add a contrast in texture to this otherwise simple yet delicious roll.
The tater tot-shaped falafel (6 for $2.49, 12 for $4.49), a little smaller than the “average” falafel ball, had a higher ratio of crunchiness to softness, which I liked a lot. They’re flavorful enough on their own, but they are further enhanced with the sauces, including the thin, liquidy tahini.
The ground beef in the samosas (3 for $5.99) was a bit bland, but no matter, you’re going to taste primarily the perfectly fried shell. Unlike most meat-based samosas, Madistan’s version was 90 percent meat and 10 percent filler (e.g. potatoes, peas) instead of the other way around. Nice.
Other items on the eclectic menu include cheeseburgers, fried chicken and gyros, plus daily specials. The only negative for Madistan is its relative difficulty in getting there by car. Try for meter parking on Broom Street or Gilman Street.
Madistan is open Monday-Saturday for lunch, dinner and carryout, and late-night Friday-Saturday.
Mezze
Sunday, August 9th, 2015
The owners of the Argus Bar and Grill bought Amy’s Cafe and eventually reopened it as Mezze, a Mediterranean restaurant, in April. I always thought that Amy’s was better as a bar than a restaurant, but now Mezze is an upgrade in both aspects.
Let’s talk about the bar first. One side of the two-page menu lists beers, so I asked our waiter/bartender about the cocktails, and he told me that he makes them based on liquor (rum, brandy, vodka, whisky or gin) and flavor (sweet, bitter, strong or sour). Thus, a whisky strong became a Sazerac, and a gin sweet turned into a Bee’s Knees. I enjoyed this process, as well as the cocktails, immensely.
The food choices are divided into sections called cold, hot and pizza. Based on the portion size, the plates can either be shared or eaten individually. An example is the pork kebab ($12), which comes with three large chunks of very tender and well-seasoned pork amid a bright combo of sweet corn relish, harissa potatoes and garlic yogurt.
The meat also was perfect in terms of flavor and texture on the lamb pizza ($16), which also was topped with garlic, pine nuts, onion and garlic cream. Even better was the crust, which tasted like perfectly toasted pita bread. Speaking of which, the homemade pita that comes with the falafel ($8) was much different; in fact, it was quite bland. The four pieces were strangely paired with three pieces of spinachy-tasting falafel.
If you’re looking for just a snack, the Za’atar fries ($8) will hit the spot. They are nicely seasoned and come with garlic yogurt sauce. Others that are good to nosh on are the hummus and tabbouli ($10) and the charcuterie ($12).
Mezze serves dinner Monday-Saturday, beginning at 4 p.m.
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See more photos in our Mezze Flickr album.
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