More to Come - Interesting Food and Interesting Cooks Around the Area

Forgive me, gentle reader, for being absent for so long. All this time, since my last post, I've been enjoying exotic and fascinating foods and keeping it all to myself. My apologies. I will remedy that soon. My most recent discovery was the covered patio at Dusty's Cellar with the open fire place. Its the perfect place to take a friend and enjoy the evening so by all means avail yourself of the experience and Bon apetite!

Dublin Square - A Touch of Dublin in East Lansing

In 2008 I was writing a food and restaurant column for Lansing City Pulse Magazine. Here is a little piece about Dublin Square. The food is just as good or better, but the issues have advanced a bit.

I could understand an interest in Guinness Stout, Harp or Jameson whiskey, but Irish food? My father's family is from Dublin, and I won't even talk about all the wasted bottles of good red wine that went into his cooking. The best Irish cook I ever met was from Dublin, but she cooked only Middle Eastern food. I felt that spoke for itself.

For the rest of the story follow this link.

Sahara's Restaurant in Okemos - A Little of the Flavor of the Beirut

When I went over to Sahara's the other day, owner Ahmed Elbast sat down with me and we caught up on the restaurant scoop in the area. Ahmed is in his mid 30's and rather gragarious. He has been working in his family's restaurant since he was a boy back in Beirut. I live a few miles from the restaurant in Okemos and I have always enjoyed his food and the great lunch buffet they offer, although I would love to see a mural of the seashore in Beirut as part of his decor.

And a few years ago Ahmed entrusted me with the secrets to his fabulous chicken recipe - a favor I won't soon forget and one that makes my chicken exceptionally tasty. I have done articles about Lansing's Middle Eastern restaurants for a few local newspapers in the past, so I asked him what was new at Sahara's.

I perused the menu while he talked to me. I have always liked his food, the humus is fresh and tasty, the buffet is always excellent, with good soup, and great buffet choices - one of my favorite is the stuffed green pepper with a tomato sauce. I especially like the Chicken Schawarma for $6.95 and the Chicken Kabob for the same price and the Mujadara (Lentils, cracked wheat and onions)and Salad at $5.95 and the lamb gyro platter with herbs and spices charbroiled and served with garlicky yogurt gyro sauce.

I have never tried the old Middle Eastern custom of eating raw Kibbee (my Middle Eastern friends have told me you only buy raw kibbee, which is spiced raw beef, from a family you know really well) but they do make it if you order 24 hours ahead. They do serve a cooked Kibbee Combo for $6.95 with rice hummus and salad.

I am a great fan of Turkish or Middle Eastern coffee, so I order the small, strong coffee they serve with the cardamom spice in it, to top off every meal and usually accompany it with baklava. The ambiance of the place is exotic with the brass wall plaque that says Allah in Arabic, although the family is Catholic, and the wooden camel stares from the shelf on the wall and the brass samovars give an air of Middle Eastern elegance decorating various shelves and counters around the restaurant. Their small grocery area provides a few things I like that I find hard to get in regular grocery stores, like fava or butter beans I use when I make Fool Madamas with chickpeas, lemon, and garlic, one of my favorite recipes.

Ahmed told me that the restaurant has started serving liquor again and teased me about those ice cream liquor drinks that are so popular. "Aha", he said as he told me they would be serving liquor again, "I'll make you more of those ice cream drinks." I seriously hope I have the fortitude to refuse the mango and the chocolate martini, and the Key Lime Pie with a kick, (a mix of Bacardi rum, vanilla ice cream, lime juice and topped with whipped cream).

Ahmed told me he has tried to adapt to the changing mood of Lansing area restaurant goers as they worry about their finances, and he is working with the schools to hold special fundraisers. He gives them a percentage of what he takes in for special dinners and they both gain. He also keeps his prices as low as he can, although until very recently, his prices doubled. And despite the recent drop in grains and other food costs, the lower cost is passed on slowly.

I find his fare to be among the best Middle Eastern food in town and the relaxed atmosphere must be reminiscent of Beirut, which has long been known as the Riviera of the Middle East although it has suffered in the last few years from all the strife. He and his family owned a restaurant there for many years. "My mother, who is Sahara's cook, still brings fresh spices back every few months."

Like many Middle Eastern restaurant owners, he is the quintessentially gracious host, and appears to love the social aspect of owning a restaurant. He chats comfortably with everyone who comes in. If you ask him, he will reluctantly admit that he started belly dancing when he was about 14 and until recently, occasionally danced with the local belly dance superstar, Yasmina Amal, the creative director of the Habibi Dancers, the local belly dance troupe. The belly dancing moves are different for men than women but so far, I haven't been able to get him to show me any of his best moves. When I ask, he just smiles and shakes his head "no".

I hope this smaller, family owned restaurant can survive the difficult financial times the state and country are going through. They make much of their food from scratch and it is flavored with fresh, unusual, and healthy spices (most of them not only season the food but help with digestion). I enjoy this restaurant and its exotic flavor, ambiance, and relaxed atmosphere where I can chat and socialize and find out about what's going on in every one's life. The warmth and friendliness of the Elbasts and their staff adds a lot to my day, and I just hope they can keep it together while so many people and businesses around them are struggling to meet the challenges unique to this time in history. Sahara's Restaurant is located at 3536 Meridian Crossings, Okemos, MI 48864. Phone is (517) 347-3770. For more information go to their web site at www.saharasbest.com.

A Coffee Novel for Coffee Connoisseurs - If Coffee be the Nectar of Love, Drink On

The Various Flavors of Coffee, a Novel by Anthony Capella




To find this book on Amazon, click on the book jacket above.

When a woman gives a man coffee, it is a way of showing her desire.
—Abyssinian proverb


This book of love and coffee, was reviewed by the Economist newspaper in the article Coffee without the Grind.

Like Capella's previous novel, The Food of Love, he uses the exotic flavors of coffee, (here he uses coffee rather than food) to weave a story of romantic love peppered with forbidden passion, desire and betrayal . In previous books, he focused on food, but in this one, he weaves the perfume and flavor of coffee to take his readers (coffee-lovers perhaps or not) on this journey with him.

As for myself, I admit, I am a great fan of coffee and I am already convinced of it's special powers. Who has not fallen in love over Hawaiian Kona coffee in the morning or an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or Harrar, or other exotic coffee from the dark continent of Africa, or coffee grown in the wild volcanic ash of Columbia or Arabica coffee from Brazil? The scent of the coffee brings fire to the quest for love.

A great source of seduction, it has art, poetry, and of course, the exotic perfume of the coffee. Who has not warmed their own heart, as well as a lovers, over Turkish or Middle Eastern coffee with the heady scent of cardamon that is ground and added, supposedly to aid digestion. But as any (even amateur) perfumer knows, cardamon is one of the most aphrodisiac of scents, and included by many perfumers, not to mention lovers, who anticipate a night of seduction. Or perhaps nutmeg is added to the coffee which brings it a certain depth and earthiness.

I have always favored coffee grown in the shadow of the volcanoes, believing that volcanic ash brings the depths and complexity of ancient fire through the coffee to the soul, so insuring that the drinker will not be too meek, too mild, too timid, but will enter into the passion of the fire whether of love or of the spirit. Some say it is not good to play with fire, but I have found it otherwise.

Among those who have been scorched by the fires of a spiritual quest, coffee also has a special place and meaning, especially for those who have spent days going into nights and back again while they seek the ecstasy of oneness. But whether it is oneness with a lover, or oneness with the spirit, or to seek deeper into themselves, the intoxication of coffee has always had an honored place, whether with ancient priest, modern lover, or just passionate coffee connoisseur.