Tanoreen

I could sum this visit up with a few simple words: Go here. NOW. And come hungry. But you know I won't just leave it at that.

Tanoreen has garnered just about every award you can imagine, including high praise from Frank Bruni (who dined there the night after my friends & I did), who called it a 'dream' and a 'NY classic.' Indeed!

My friend JK & her husband have been to Tanoreen numerous times, and when they made plans recently to pop by, she invited me to join them (knowing I never visited before, despite living about 7 blocks away). I jumped at the chance to cross this one off The List.

I started with their iced tea, which was strong, unsweetened, and nicely minty. So refreshing on the almost suffocatingly-sweaty day.

We shared a few appetizers-and the one everyone raves about is the eggplant Napoleon-- fried rounds of eggplant stacked over a deliciously colorful plate of chopped veggies, garlicky babaganoush, and tabouleh. This dish alone is worth the trip to Bay Ridge.

Up next: labneh (thick yogurt spread) dotted with fresh herbs, slathered on their zataar-spiced flatbread and pita. Sublime and refreshing. EVEN BETTER than the labne at ilili (which was fabulous)!

We also shared the cauliflower, which is barely sauteed, then lightly dressed with a tahini sauce and a pomegranate drizzle. Wow. To take an often-overlooked vegetable such as cauliflower and to make it almost steal the show is impressive.

One more dish to share: The Arabic cheese pie with fresh herbs, cheese, and mastic (a flavor I don't always like). The mastic was very mild, though, and the pizza was filled with balanced flavors, crisp veggies, a light crust, and was gorgeous to boot. 

JK ordered the shrimp dish, which I'd briefly considered, too. She enjoyed this, and I demurely turned down her offer to share a bite. I was trying to be on my best behavior. :)

JK's husband ordered the lamb chop entrée. This was huge, and okay, I let him give me some because a) he was closer, b) there was more than enough so I didn't feel I'd be taking 1/5 of his plate, and c) it smelled fantastic. It was tender, well-cooked, and one of the best dishes I've ever tasted. Tanoreen makes some of the best lamb I've ever tried.

My dish was squash blossoms stuffed with finely ground lamb and pine nuts. It came with rice and a tangy/creamy yogurt sauce. I wasn't sure what to expect, as sometimes lamb doesn't ring my bell, but this was mild, delicious, and absolutely flawless. I even ate almost all of the rice (and I usually don't care about rice).

I wouldn't change a single thing about this meal. Every single bite had me wanting more. I had to force myself to stop eating even though I knew I was full. I have no regrets-- except that I hadn't gone to Tanoreen sooner. Every rave I heard about this place was true, true, TRUE!

Tanoreen is a short walk from the 77th street stop on the R train-- you have no excuse (and neither do I) for not eating here at least once in your life! And trust me...once is not enough.

Tanoreen
7523 3rd Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11209
(718) 748-5600

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ilili

 I'd heard plenty of raves about ilili, so I suggested it for one of our quarterly group lunches. ilili mixes Lebanese flavors with some American touches, and always gets high marks from my fellow foodies. (They also participate in Restaurant Week-- a great time to try them!)

We were a group of 12, but our server Trevor handled us without missing a beat.We started with some nonalcoholic drinks: iced coffee made with cold brew coffee, Lebanese simple syrup, strawberry basil lemonade, which smelled amazing and green lemonade made with lemons and limes- all fantastic. 

We started with apps for the table: hummus, doused with a lovely pool of olive oil and a sprinkling of sumac, thick, tangy labne (yogurt spread with herbs and olive oil), hummus, Phoenician fries (with a cracktastic garlic dip), and babaganoush (possibly the best I ever had).

Creamy hummus

This tangy labne..so good!

Blurry but still scrumptious labne

Phoenecian fries

Babaganoush (heavenly!)

Of all of these, the babaganoush was hands down my favorite. Everything was delicious. but the baba stood out by a long shot. A long, smooth, silky, garlicky shot. We actually ordered more, because this went quickly.

The soft, fluffy, warm pita came in wonderful waves, helping us scoop up every delicious bite. Surrender to the carby goodness!

We also ordered pitchers of red and white sangria for the table. It was a refreshing lift on an oppressively hot & humid day. They were both tasty, sweet but not in an overpowering way, but I preferred the red sangria.
Our entrées were all delicious, and too numerous to detail, so I'll just show you.....

Vegetarian moussaka, creatively arranged

Their famous brussels sprouts-- pretty good (sliced grapes are a nice touch!)

Lamb shank sandwich

Lamb dip au jus

Falafel wrap

My lamb burger

And you KNOW we got desserts: a turmeric shortbread (not my favorite), their homemade 'candy bar' (despite the overwhelming sesame flavor, I kept going back for more), and everyone's favorite-- the

"Candy" bar 

Show-stealing chocolate bread pudding

Turmeric shortcake

 Overall, they sent out crowd-pleasing dishes for everyone. I think my lamb burger was a bit dry, not my favorite part of the meal, but I'm also not someone who eats a lot of lamb. I was a huge fan of all the non-alcoholic drinks, the appetizers, especially the labne and the babaganoush. It's great for groups or just a small outing, and it's definitely a nice change of pace for your palate!

ilili
236 5th Ave
New York, NY 10001
(212) 683-2929

Local Lebanese

Just steps from my building is a delicious and affordable Lebanese restaurant. I've been numerous times since I moved to Bay Ridge, and I always get the same thing: beef shawarma sandwich. It's spicy, tangy, yet slightly-sweet meat packed into a flatbread with lettuce, tomato, a zingy sauce, and various as-yet unidentified veggies (which happen to be almost as delicious as the meat!) I also figured today was a good time to ask the man behind the counter (who's always just lovely to me) what those 'pickled veggies' are. Imagine my surprise when he said "Turnips." My jaw actually dropped, because I have said flat-out, for the record, in public and in private, that I hate turnips. Don't like them, don't want them, don't want to try to like them. Blech.

And yet, in this sandwich, I LOVE them! The turnips are the bright pink strips. I am assuming they're colored with beet juice or something? Another question for another time. And in my curiousity, I tried one of the turnips on its own, but found it had a bitter tinge to it (another reason why I hate turnips). Yet when you eat it WITH the sandwich, that bitterness disappears. Genius.

Karam is also known for their rosewater lemonade, which I can't quite decide if I like. I am not a fan of rose 'flavor.' Rose flowers? Love 'em. Rose-flavored foods? liquids? They always have a soapy taste to me. I haven't really tried any of their pastries yet, either. I'm always focused on the sammich. I've never been able to finish one of these monsters, and today was no exception. Notice my boy cat, Oliver, taking a tentative sniff and offering to 'help' me with my sandwich. I declined his generous offer. Then his sister, the inimitable Mitzi May, decided to sit guard to my left, just in case I changed my mind. I did not.

Thanks for the offers, kids, but I wasn't about to share this sandwich with anyone. Yet despite being super-hungry (I ate breakfast at 8am and it was now 330pm), I could only finish half of it. Defeated sigh.

This sandwich was 5 bucks even for years, but I noticed on this visit it's gone up to 6. That's still an even 6 bucks for a sandwich you could easily split with another person. I'm definitely filing this under Cheap Eats, and if you're ever in my hood, I'll be glad to meet you there. Maybe we can split a shawarma. ;),P>

Karam
8519 4th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11209
(718) 745-5227