Saturday, April 17, 2010

Jerusalem Cafe

Mobile, AL
$11-$15 Entrees

Every once in a while, I stumble upon a gem of a restaurant in an unprepossessing location with an uninspiring exterior. This restaurant may not have a platinum setting, but it is a VVSI diamond in the rough.

Jerusalem Cafe is located on Airport Boulevard in a humble strip mall, surrounded by (shudder) garish chain restaurants. However, the interior atmosphere is elegant and serene with Middle Eastern tapestries, comfortable seating, and white tablecloths. The service is as flawlessly polished as the presentation.

My friend, Wendi, and I took our repast at Jerusalem Cafe on a weekday. We split the Jerusalem Dinner Feast, which is certainly enough for two, and offers a sampling of mezzah and entrees, as well as dessert. We each started with a house salad, which featured a refreshing, enticing dressing redolent of citrus, white vinegar, and white pepper. Wendi and I each ordered a bottle to take home.

The hummus was delightfully heavy on the tahini and lemon. The baba ganouj was creamy and mild. Tender and with a gentle flavor, the stuffed grape leaves did not taste too pickled like so many tend to do. The felafel was spicy, but not overly so. Wendi aptly described its flavor as "earthy." (She is a true poet and should be a food critic, too!)

I will now make a brave statement: The tabouli was even better than my father-in-law's. There, I've said it. Perfectly measured parts of tomatoes and cucumbers, with a hint of lemon juice to cut the pungency of the fresh parsley. (I hope my in-laws do not disown me, but I must maintain my journalistic integrity.)

The beef tenderloin kabobs just melted in our mouths and were complimented by a subdued yogurt sauce. The squash, grilled with olive oil, was tender, yet crisp. The ambrosial baklava was hot and buttery with a balmy aroma ... perhaps of rosewater?

After this exquisite experience, Wendi and I were completely tamed. We langourously lingered over coffee, never once feeling rushed by our lovely waiter. I may have to relocate to Mobile, just so I can eat at Jerusalem Cafe twice a day for the rest of my life.

5 Kudzu






Friday, April 16, 2010

DiGiorgio's Out Takes Restaurant

Homewood, AL
$5-$8 Entrees

Most women love to order salads. If it's called a salad, it must be healthy, right? (We rationalize the mayonnaise in the chicken salad, the blue cheese on the Cobb, the oil in the dressing.) However, most salads are healthy. This holds true at Out Takes. This is the perfect restaurant for a lunch with the girls. (Ladies, don't try to take your husbands to this restaurant. This restaurant serves chick food only.)

Out Takes has a simple, comfortable interior. Accessed by a flight of stairs, it is not for the handi-capable. The decor on the walls is attractive, albeit unoriginal: photos of Monroe, Dean, and Hepburn (Audrey, that is). The staff are personable and accommodating, and service is fast. Order and pay at the counter; then, have a seat.

The Salad Assortment is a popular selection for those who enjoy variety. First, choose from the chicken and tuna salads. I recommend the Swiss-Almond Chicken, a rich puree of Swiss cheese, crushed, slivered almonds, and rosemary. Next, choose two of the Specialty Salads. The Potato Vinaigrette is made with red potatoes and Dijon. Many would enjoy the taste of the mustard, which is quite strong. The Pasta Pesto is yummy with chunks of provolone cheese, as well as fresh tomato and dried basil. (I do believe it would be even better, however, if the basil were fresh.) Their sweet tea is acceptable.

Out Takes offers a wide variety of deli sandwiches, as well as wraps and soups. But a meal is not complete without dessert (at least not in my world), and the menu includes a variety of cookies, brownies, and cheesecakes. I was very impressed by their shortbread cookies which were sweet and salty and crumbly all at the same time. I called it "My Little Biscuit" and wished for hot tea with milk and sugar to go with it. Hmmm ... I really need to go back there, if only for another shortbread cookie ...

2.5 Kudzu

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Keifer's

Jackson, MS
$6-$9 Entrees

Ah, Keifer's! How I have craved thee since I moved away from Jackson! While a student at Millsaps College (go Major's!), I ate at Keifer's on a weekly basis. (This was back when I was a serious lap swimmer and could regularly burn off the ridiculous number of calories I was consuming.) I still get a hankering for their feta sauce, especially when under stress, or while relaxing on the couch, or ... okay, it's all the time. There needs to be a Fetaholics Anonymous.

Basically, Keifer's is an American restaurant. Their menu says "Keifer's, Est. 1980, A Taste of the Mediterranean." This is accurate. You will get a taste of the Mediterranean, including but not limited to: lamb, tzatziki sauce, feta, chickpeas, cracked wheat, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, stuffed grape leaves, pita bread, and baklava. You may also get a taste of honey mustard, hamburger, ham and cheese, smoked turkey, smoked bacon, tuna salad, and potato, to name a few of their other ingredients. This melting pot could best be described as "exciting Mediterranean male seeks a forgiving Southern female."

At any rate, last week while visiting Jackson, I relapsed. My coping skills all failed, and I'll have to surrender my chips. After parking my car in the familiarly crowded parking lot, I entered the equally crowded and bustling restaurant with welcoming, outdoor side decks. (I've always liked the white lights they string along the ceilings outside.) My way to my table was fraught with perils, including speed walking waiters carrying pitchers of beer, plates of gyros, and cottage fried potatoes. Seriously, if you want to avoid a nasty collision, be careful while walking through this restaurant! I sat down and looked around at the many open rooms forming the interior of the building, each lined with Mediterraneanesque curio. Keifer's is fun, casual, and very popular. However, I have often observed that the restaurant would benefit from a) a thorough cleaning, b) a larger parking lot, c) a larger building, and d) reevaluation of the flow of foot traffic. It is also e) virtually inaccessible to the handicapped. I prayed for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

Keifer's service is always rushed. Your waiter is rushed, the busboys are rushed, and the cooks are rushed. The upside: service is fast. The menu is the same for lunch and dinner. The restaurant tends to have regulars, and if you go there enough, you will identify your usual. I myself have three usuals (see the subtitle to this blog): The Pita Mozz, the Cucumber, and the Chicken Gyro. The Pita Mozz is fresh pita bread topped with mozzarella cheese, grilled, and served with my DOC, feta sauce. Sometimes, after my Pita Mozz slices are gone, I just sit there and eat the feta sauce with a spoon. But I digress.

The Cucumber consists of marinated, sliced cucumbers with white onion served with ... you guess it ... feta sauce. The cucumbers have a sweet bite, which is complimented by the garlicky feta sauce. The Chicken Gyro contains spiced chicken roasted on the rotisserie (specifically, the spit commonly used for lamb at Greek restaurants) and then shaved off into thin slices. It usually is served with lettuce, tomato, onion, and honey mustard. However, I recommend that one holds the honey mustard and substitutes ... feta sauce. Just for today.

No matter what you order, the price will be right. The college crowd is evidence one can eat here on a budget. As I paid the check, I sighed, knowing I'd have to drive back to Birmingham and get back on the wagon. Until next time ...

3 Kudzu



Monday, April 5, 2010

Shapley's

Jackson, MS
$28-$50 Entrees

The first time I dined at Shapleys, I was 17 years old. A poor college student, I was taken there on a second date. Upon arriving, I was stunned to find that we were meeting his parents. On the second date. I spent the meal listening to his mother as she regaled me with an itemized list of what "Dear William" was looking for in a wife. I didn't eat much.

This week, I figured that the only way an experience at Shapley's could go would be up. The only problem: I was coming in from out of town and didn't have a babysitter. My baby, being the experienced diner she is, is almost always quiet at restaurants. I decided to take a chance. I could always take it to go if I had to. I arrived at the brick restaurant with oil lamps lining the exterior. I started to wonder whether Shapley's was out of my price range. Reminding myself that class is what you do when no one is looking, I looked around, and seeing no one, walked in. With a stroller.

The host graciously led the both of us to one of Shapley's elegant little alcoves. Although a bit put off by the formality and air of exclusivity, I liked the privacy. So did Baby Claire. Shapley's atmosphere is luxurious with candle light and damask tablecloths. However, the light is so dim that, like the lettuces in Mr. MacGregor's garden, the environment has a soporific effect. Although the men wear button-downs, surprisingly, coats are not required.

Shapley's is renowned for their incomparable wine list. Actually, it is more like a wine phone book. There are 46 pages of wines by the bottle. The 47th page is wine by the glass. I quickly turned to the 47th page. Any initial apprehensions I may have had about the prices were quickly drowned in a glass of Louis Gundrum Reisling. It was crisp and refreshing ... so good, in fact, that I ordered a second. My financial inhibitions slipped another notch.

Perusing the menu, I noted that everything is a la carte. I was also a bit astonished to see that Shapley's lists their prices on their menu ... a bit inconsistent with their overall image. I tried Shapley's famous bread, which was fresh with a crusty exterior and a soft, light interior. Of course, I slathered it with the whipped honey butter. Next, a garden salad consisting of mixed field greens and truly excellent blue cheese dressing. Somewhere in between this course and the next, I noticed that the waiter had failed to breathe a word about the specials. I listened with some jealousy as the waiter next door told his diners about oyster something or other. I thought vindictively "They might have just sacrificed a kudzu!"

Now, I have this thing. When it says au gratin, I have to order it. This time, it was the delicious creamed spinach au gratin paired with the cream and chive scalloped potatoes. Unfortunately, the latter were very bland. (I make a Martha Stewart recipe that is much better.) The side orders being quite large, and my baby not exactly pulling her weight, I requested that the rest be boxed up. The two came back to the table in one small box. I couldn't believe my eyes. The potatoes had been placed in a dessert box with the spinach on top! Needless to say, I sent it back, and they corrected the error.

I once heard a person complain that Ruth's Chris allegedly pours butter over their steaks to make them taste better. I thought, "and this is a bad thing?" Shapley's 8 oz. filet was delectable, if overpriced. As tender as the stick of butter they poured over it, it was nice and thick and perfectly medium rare.

In order to help absorb the effects of a touch too much Reisling, I ordered dessert. This is when Baby Claire strapped on the feedbag. In order to keep her quiet, I succumbed to her demands and plied her with vast quantities of bread pudding, hoping the alcohol content in the frangelico and amaretto sauce had been effectively burned off in the sauce pan. Personally, I think the sauce was disappointing, but the bread pudding was satisfying.

Baby Claire and I were becoming so drowsy in the Stygian darkness that I requested the check. Although this was forthcoming, the waiter then left and did not pick it back up for at least 20 minutes. Finally, he decided that the establishment would benefit from my payment, after all. I left the restaurant, my eyes adjusting to the comparatively bright night sky. A nonsmoker, I wanted a postprandial cigarette. I settled for postprandial narcolepsy.

3.5 kudzu