Arabs eat Middle East food like they are making love
There are many great Middle East restaurants in America, but one of the best is Zakia in Atlanta, Georgia. It truly is an expression of the Arab saying that Arabs eat food with the same passion that they have when making love
By Ray Hanania
Originally published at Hanania.com Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Arabs don’t just eat Middle Eastern food. They make love to it with all the verve and passion that one hopes for in a beautiful relationship.
They put the food to their lips like a passionate kiss. Dipping the bread in the hummus, or savoring the Kibbeh Nayyeh is slow and sensual passion of love. You savor every taste. It shouldn’t be surprising that Arabs are a passionate and emotional people.
It all helps, of course, when you happen to be dining at a Middle East restaurant that has a chef who truly knows how to transform the food menu items into a fabulous dinner experience.
There are a lot of great Middle East restaurants that offer inspiring recipes and menus. But when you find one that offers a rare combination of hot stuffed grapeleaves with lamb, even if as a small appetizer of five rolls, and a fresh plate of perfectly seasoned, mixed Kibbeh Nayyeh (Lebanese steak tartare), you have hit the culinary G-Spot.
There is a great restaurant in Chicagoland in Orland Park called Zwar. And another that offers the same experience in Washington D.C., the Lebanese Taverna. And I found a third one when I recently traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to cover the presidential debates.
While in Atlanta, I got to enjoy one of the south’s best Middle East restaurants, Zakia, 3699 Lenox Road.
The food combination of the Kibbeh Nayyeh, lamb stuffed grapeleaves and hummus perfection was a G-Spot on steroids. It was so good and I felt so guilty, like I had cheated on a spouse.
My experience at the Atlanta Middle East restaurant Zakia, the Arabic word for ‘tasty,” was so rare. It doesn’t come often to reach those heights in the enjoyment of Middle East cuisine.
The restaurant itself is first class, like feasting inside a Pharaoh’s galley. Just exquisite. Nothing makes great food taste even better than sitting at a table in an inspiring culinary environment.
The hummus with the garbanzo beans and extra virgin olive oil was perfection. The pita bread was hot and fresh.
Just seeing the Kibbeh Nayyeh on the menu was exquisite. The grape leaves are served in a tasty diced tomato dressing, five only. You will want to double the order and make it 10. They set out a small dipping dish of oil, sesame seeds and Za’atar, a spicy Levantine herb.
It was like the equivalent of a baseball player hitting a Grand Slam and pitching a no hitter for the rival team; like a hockey player scoring three goals in the same game for a “Hat Trick.”
I actually savored that dinner, enjoying every bite that I brought to my tastebuds.
The kabobs were two perfectly cooked 4 ounce servings of filet with barbecued vegetables. The side dish of rice was heavenly buttered with almond slivers,
I’m not a smoker but when I was done, I wanted to lie back and smoke a cigarette.
The restaurant also offers a wide range of wines including from Lebanon, red and white selections, which I avoid because being a baby boomer and living on so many 21st century meds, it’s one of many things you are forced to give up.
But one thing I will never give up is the hunt for the best Middle East restaurants in America and even in the Middle East and Europe when I travel there.
It’s almsot worth taking a weekend jaunt to Atlanta, for no other reason except to experience Zakia’s menu.
You can also enjoy vegetarian menu options, but that’s like having sex on your own. What’s the fun in that?
True Middle Eastern food is healthy and meaty. The Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest in the world and doesn’t have to be a “diet” that lacks taste bud pizzaz.
Here are more photos I hope inspire you to try it if you are in Atlanta, or, have the wherewithal to build a trip to this beautiful city around the desire to experience this Middle East culinary sensation.
Sahtein, I say, the Arabic word for “two healths” which is an odd expression of not just having one health, but wishing one a higher level of a healthier than health experience. To which one responds, Ala albeck, or “to your heart.”
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Kibbeh Nayyeh (steak tartare)
lamb stuffed grape leaves
hummus
Filet kabobs
Zakia, 3699 Lenox Road, Atlanta, Georgia.
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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