Recon at Baba Ghanouj

Since the next dinner in February for Margie's Wine Activity will be at Baba Ghanouj we decided to do another recon to check out a few more food dishes before she makes her final decision on the menu. The owner of Baba used to have the Sahara restaurant in Belmont Shore years ago. The great thing about this place along with the food is there is no corkage.

Started out with Cheese Borek. Cheese wrapped in dough and deep fried. I liked this a lot. We also had Feta Mix, which consisted of Feta, onions, tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. Served with pita chips. This had a good fresh , clean taste.

We tried two soups. A Lentil soup and a white bean soup.  The white bean soup had much more flavor than the lentil. It was very good.

Then on to two main dishes. Kibbi be Sineeya, which was ground lamb with cracked wheat and pinenuts, baked and served with Basmati rice, Tabouli and Yogurt. Flavor was good, a little dry but that is what the yogurt is for. I have found most middle eastern meats are on the dry side.

Next main dish was Chicken Shawarma. Marinated, grilled, very thin chicken strips with tomato and parsley. Had very good flavor. This meat mixture would be great in a pita sandwich.

Of course we had rice, yogurt, hummus, tabouli and tahini along with grilled peppers and tomatoes. Did not seem to be heavy on vegetables aside from those added as garnishes. 

Since there was only 3 of us we did not need a huge selection of wine. Margie and Paul brought a 2012 Lloyd (Napa), Sta Rita Hills, Pinot Noir. I had never heard of this label and was interested to know what vineyards in the Sta Rita Hills they sourced from. Contacted Wes Hagen from Clos Pepe and he had never heard of Lloyd. So I will have to do a bit more research.

I brought a NV Robert Moncuit Grand Cru Champagne. This has become my favorite champagne for the price. At $45 its a real winner.