Restaurant experiment: Makarios Kabob and Grill

Makarios Kabob and Grill

940 20th Street South at 10th Avenue South

Birmingham, AL 35205

205-731-7414

http://www.makarioskabob.com

I came to Makarios one Friday afternoon with Sara and Carey.  I’ve passed the place a zillion times and was looking forward to trying it out.  I was surprised that it was an actual sit-down place instead of those order-at-the-counter joints.  It was pretty busy, with the patio completely full, but we were seated in booths near the beverage station.  Our waitress was nice and checked on us enough but not too much.

There are a lot of entrees (for more than $10) on the menu as well.  Sara ordered one, and it came with a boatload of food because two sides are involved.  That was a bit too much food for me, so I went with something a little smaller.

I tried Carey’s hommous, and I thought it wasn’t bad.  There are plenty of pitas to go around (perfect for sharing), and they come out in little non-Ziploc baggies.

I ordered the shish kabob sandwich (well, it’s more of a wrap really) which was about $5, and then I added fries for just under $2 more.  The fries were airy and crunchy on the outside, so they were fine with me.  The wrap was okay.  I did like the lamb which had an appealing flavor.  However, the pickle were just weird and didn’t compliment the wrap well.  They kind of reminded me of the pickles on a McDonald’s cheeseburger.  Maybe nix the pickles and add more sauce?  And more lamb?

So all in all, Makarios is fine for a reasonably priced bite around UAB/Five Points, but it’s not divine food from the gods or anything like that.  And my friends will back up this statement, no doubt.

Restaurant experiment: Moustache

Moustache

90 Bedford Street between Barrow and Grove Streets

New York, NY 10014

212-229-2220

moustachepitza.com

Leslie, remember a million years ago when we went to Chumley’s (looks like that is closed now) and we passed Moustache? Since then, I’ve wanted to try Moustache and was happy to finally do so last night.

Firstly, naming a restaurant Moustache is hilarious. I must share two mustache-related stories I heard from a former coworker.

1. One friend decided to throw a mustache party, and all of the fellas had to grow soup strainers. They knew about the shindig a while in advance, obviously.
2. Another friend (or maybe the same friend) got a tiny mustache tattooed on his finger so that when he lifted his finger to his lip, you get the picture.

This West Village location (there’s one in the East Village and one coming to East Harlem) is small with about ten tables or so. Our gang of four was early, but the small eatery filled up fast. We ordered an appetizer of hummus ($5.50) which was accompanied by pitas which were basically balloons. They were quite filled with air but piping hot and perfect for the hummus. The hummus to me tasted like a blend of eggs, peanut butter, and mayonnaise, along with chickpeas and tahini. Much creamier than I’m used to. Good good.

tahini–sesame paste

Wayne, Greg, Tom, and I decided to share three pitzas, Moustache’s take on the good old pie, which as the name would suggest, uses pitas as the base. These pitzas are a decent size; a solo one would be just about right for two people to split. We ended up with two chicken pitzas ($12 each) and one tomato and cheese pitza ($9). These were blisteringly hot and full of flavor, especially the chicken one which offset the bird with spiciness, garlic, red peppers, scallions, and a lotta lemon. I love tart sour tastes, so this was right up my alley. Unfortunately we were in a rush to catch a production at NYU (zipping through a meal out is never desirable) but we, or at least I, wished we could have lingered more and savored more.

Moustache: worth the million month wait!