Safier Deli

http://www.safierdeli.com/

This morning I thought I should write about one of the restaurants that I frequent most often, but that fails to make it to my blog. Sometimes I think I take good eats for granted. Eating at the same locale over-and-over again treats the taste buds well, but doesn’t seem novel to me, so I just assume it wouldn’t be novel to write about. But as I find myself wanting to return to old favorite places more often these days, I thought it’d be worth it to give my notable eateries some shout-outs. So here I go.


This is known as a Persian/Lebanese deli, although I think it draws mostly from typical Mediterranean and Indian fare. The Indian daily specials are some of the most flavorful I have had, as is the beef and garlic sauce to their chicken dish called shish tawook, which is just divine! Nothing is a greater turn-on than good, tasty meat, which they have plenty of.

Their dishes are affordable, being about 4.50 for an a la carte wrap to 6.99 for a plated meal. The meals come with rice, a small salad, and some pita and hummus. We have a running joke in our office about both the pickle and pickled onions that come with the sandwiches and plates. They appear in the salad portions of both and are usually unwanted because they taste so bright and sour in comparison to everything else. They really overpower the dish! It’s always a bad day in work-land when you forget to ask Safier to hold the pickle from your sandwich!

The restaurant is at a funny locale simply because of Yafa, its greater competitor across the street. The office crew’s decision has been that in a taste test, yafa’s pita and hummus, rice, and salad may win, but that Safier’s meats are tops (although I think the pita and hummus are debatable). Yafa surely has better hummus that is flavored with olive oil, a small relish of some sort, and some paprika and is generous in its portion; however, Safier’s pita may win due to the fact that it tastes more bready than sweet-doughy, although it is occasionally dry.

The sauces at Safier are excellent! Their tahini and zesty garlic “tawook” sauce are superb accompaniments to any dish.

Drew and JJ from my office would often delight in the veggie paradise, which is a hummus and vegetable wrap that includes typical Mediterranean vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, lettace, and some feta cheese as well. There is some tabouleh in there as well, although I don’t think they insert a lot with the hummus already present. They would often get fries, which were very yummy and freshly made, although I found the health combo and the lack of foreign-zest inherent in ordering fries a little bit surprising.

My debacle confronting me today is this: do I branch out into the unknown and try their baba ganoush, known as mutabal, or their fried kibbi (which sounds roughly similar to lamb naan), or do I go for an old favorite such as the beef shawarma or chicken tawook? Debates debates. I don’t want to have something I don’t like, do want to branch out some. Maybe I’ll get the kibbi. Maybe not. Ugg! Who knows what today holds…