Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Middle East Cafe - a hidden treasure

A Lebanese friend recommended Middle East Cafe to us. He said that Lebanese cooking tends to vary by village, and that this place serves food like his own family's cuisine.

And boy, his family must eat well. My favorites are the Cabbage Rolls. Somehow the perfect balance of tenderness and seasonings. You can get it with meat or vegetarian (in both cases, the filling has a lot of rice -- so if you get the combo, this can replace a rice dish). My other favorite is the Baked Kibbee -- grain and lamb, and pine nuts.

One great thing about this place is that they have a Combo Special, where you pick three items for $6.50. The list includes: Grape Leaves (Meat or Vegi), Baked Kibbee, Meat or Spinach Pie, Shwarma (that's the big roll of gyro meat: Chicken or Beef), Cabbage Rolls, Burgul & Tomatoes, Mujadara (lentils and Cracked wheat), Hummous or Baba Ghanouge, Hashwi (rice, chicken and ground beef), Tabouli (salad of parsley, cracked wheat and tomato).

The worst thing about the place is that's it's hard to find. (Once you know it's there, it's easy, so give it a try.) They are just off West Saginaw on the way out to Lansing Mall, tucked in behind a Tuffy Muffler shop a block or so west of Waverly Road, on the north side of Saginaw.

They are open 8am-10pm weekdays but not weekends. (Hey, the owner has to have time to run to the grocery store once in a while!)

801 W Thomas L Pkwy, Lansing, MI, 48917. 323-9009

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,
Sorry this comment is not a direct response to your post "Middle East Cafe". Recently, I've been looking for a particular food service in the Greater Lansing area that I thought you (someone who seems to know pretty much about every restaurant in Lansing) would assist me in. My entire family, except father, started a 3 month vacation overseas. We all thought that my father would be able to pull things together once the dinner bell rang but, unfortunately, he's been starving - unable to cook or order food since he's been completely dependant on my mother. Do you know of any service in Greater Lansing that fixes up meals for the elder and delivers it daily? I'm sure my father would appreciate it.
Thanks,
fa

Pitchlady said...

Sounds like you want to talk to Meals on Wheels. A quick search on Yahoo for the service in our area turned up the Tri-county Office on Aging. Click on the "Contact Us" link to get phone numbers and offices.

http://www.tcoa.org/

ESFG

We The People said...

try www.lansingethnicfoods.com
they deliver free in their areas.
use 'halal' at checkout for 5% discount.