New #19: Eat at a Middle Eastern Restaurant

Like many other Americans, I've never found myself craving Middle Eastern food - probably because I've never had the opportunity to try it. So tonight, without anything appealing to eat in my own kitchen, I decided to finally try some of this curious cuisine at a restaurant I've passed 1,000 times but never set food inside. Al Salam, as it's called, is kind of a hole in the wall that's best known in town for advertising belly dancing on Friday nights. But in the true spirit of new, I took Ben and decided to grab a bite.

The first steps inside were just as intimidating as the restaurant's outer appearance, starting with the angry looking man (who we later learned was from Kuwait) there to "greet" us.

"Your shoes," he said with a thick Arabic accent, his finger pointing at our feet. "Take them off."

Not wanting to make this guy mad, we quickly obliged and put our kicks in their own little cubbies by the door. Once we were down to our socks, the stern, scary man led us to our table. (I later found out he was actually the owner and chef standing in for the hostess, so maybe customer service just wasn't his strong suite.)

The dining room seemed to capture an essence of the Middle East, which I'm sure is hard to come by in Colorado. There were some things I might have stereotypically expected to find, like brass hookahs and ceramic camels displayed on the walls. But it also offered more about the region, including beautiful red rugs on the floor and framed photos of colossal buildings and scenic landscapes that I never envisioned as part of the area before.

Beyond Sarah stuffing her face, you can see what it was like in the restaurant.

Even the tables themselves added some intrigue. They didn't come higher than my shins, and instead of chairs there were cushy pillows on the ground for us to sit on. This positioning was a little difficult for Ben, who just a few days ago tore a ligament in his knee (whoops). But once we were situated, it actually proved to be quite comfortable.

My wonderment with the place just kept coming as soon as I opened the menu. Everything looked so good! There were meats of all kinds, gyros, falafels and things I couldn't even pronounce that sounded great. Plus, everything seemed to come with hummus and pita bread, two of my favorite foods in the wide world.

Ben and I finally decided on a meat combo medley that seemed to have a bit of everything. It started with babaghanouj, which was just as much fun to say as scrumptious as it was to eat. Oh, and one of the best parts was that instead of forks, we were encouraged to just use the pita bread to scoop everything up. I love a meal where I can eat everything, including the utensils. These are my kind of people. The meat entree was great, too, which we enjoyed drenched in a yummy cucumber sauce.

The camera phone does not do my meat plate justice.

All the while, Arabic dance music played in the background that had us bobbing our heads as we sat cross-legged on the floor eating our unpronounceable food with pita bread. If it weren't for my blond hair, you would have sworn I was a Middle Easterner myself.

Sarah of Arabia.

To finish off our flavorful foreign food, we ordered a serving of baklava. Let me just say, I lava baklava. It was absolutely heavenly, the kind of food that makes you uncontrollably mutter "ymmmmmm" as you chew. I've had the dessert before, but never tasted it made so perfectly wonderful. If I don't return to the restaurant for anything else, I know I will be back for some baklava bliss.