this post is filed under Cuisine - Lebanese, Location - Boston
So I'm finally back to posting about Boston. As some of you know I tend to eat a lot of the same stuff over and over again while I'm at school, so this post is as appropriate a start as any. I hereby continue to work through the menu at Reef Cafe, my food destination of choice around here in Allston. I eat at Reef Cafe usually at least every 3 days or so, often in the form of takeout or delivery (see a previous post here). It's a very small, family-run, styrofoam-plate Lebanese joint, and damn the food is good. The people there are as nice as anyone you'll ever meet (usually, younger brother Salam is at the counter when I walk in). I implore you to go if you get the chance!
meat pie - $1.5
The meat pie, which took me a while to discover, is a revelation. They're not too big, and I usually get one as a side for whatever other item I'm eating, but to be honest I'd be happy eating 3 or 4 of them and calling it a meal. I have no idea what exactly is in it - it's some kind of lamb mixture if I'm not mistaken - but it really is delicious. The crust is doughy and thin, and if you're lucky and the pies just came out, wonderfully crisp.
chicken shawarma rice plate - $7.95
Perhaps the most go-to thing I get at Reef is the chicken shawarma. Like many of the items, it comes in either as either a rice plate or a sandwich. I usually get the sandwich (actually, I like it better that way), but I for some reason don't have a good photograph of that, so I'll leave it for another time. When I'm a bit more hungry, I get the huge rice plate. Again, I have no idea what goes into the chicken shawarma - the color seems to indicate a tomato-based sauce, but I don't actually know. I just know it's delicious, and I have to have it at least once or twice a week or I go into withdrawal. That white stuff at the top of the plate next to the pink pickled radishes is a devilishly good lemon-garlic sauce/mixture.
More posts about Reef Cafe will surely come in time. They just have so much more good stuff, including lamb-beef shawarma, chicken livers, soujouk... even their french fries. I've contemplated selling out and getting a Reef Cafe t-shirt.
The chicken dish made with what distinctly looks like very white meat? It must be very good for you to rave about it! Is it good enough for you to take me there next time I visit?
posted by Raphael on April 11, 2005 08:24 PM
Yes, it is indeed all white meat... and we're definitely going when you visit.
posted by Arthur on April 12, 2005 12:05 AM
I think of shawarma as meat on a upright rotisserie...But that's with a tomato sauce? Is it stir fried? Strange, but looks good nonethelss. Do they have that amazing Lebanese garlic paste with their shawarma? I can barely eat it but -oh my- how delicious it is!
posted by molly on April 12, 2005 01:01 PM
molly - I have no idea. I've always known "shawarma" as the upright spinning rotisserie thing too. I've just assumed that the Lebanese simply do it differently, but I guess that doesn't explain why they'd use the word shawarma when there seems to be no relation.
And garlic paste! Perhaps paste is the word i was looking for when I wrote sauce/mixture, but I'm not sure if that nails it perfectly. That stuff really makes the sandwich (and the rice plate, for that matter). I'd happily eat it with pita bread alone!
posted by Arthur on April 13, 2005 01:09 AM