Eat and don a fez like an Egyptian

Joining the mix of New Haven culinary options is Alexandria Café and Restaurant, offering Middle Eastern cuisine into the late hours of the night. With the scented hookah smoke wafting through the air, the loud voices from Arabic television shows booming in the background, the bright eclectic decor, and the good food which requires two hands, none of your senses will go home disappointed.

When we entered the restaurant, we realized that we had entered a den of Middle Eastern kitsch. At Alexandria, the fluorescent lighting shows off the restaurant's bright colors, gold Egyptian motifs, and it illuminates a giant faux pavilion, created by four ionic columns joined by a trellis through which plastic grapes are threaded.

DAVID GEST/YH Nothing like sittin' back with a little hookah.

Throughout our meal we enjoyed the babbling of the fountain behind us—a gold lion's head spouting blue liquid down an alley lined with Astroturf and fake flowers. Against the adjacent wall were gold pharaoh heads perched on columns, while across the room sat the 36" TV screen, which featured an Arabic soap opera, game show, and news hour during our dinner.

Depending on the mood of the venue (as determined by the spirit and number of the customers), this atmosphere can be either charming or discouraging. However, if the warmth of owner Fayez Ghaly and his family, as well as the restaurant's good food, low prices, and late hours are any indication, all bodes well.

The dishes at Alexandria Café and Restaurant are from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Iraq. To sample the widest array of dishes, my dinner companions and I tried Alexandria's Dish, a mixed platter with both meat and vegetarian choices that arrived on two large plates with a basket of pita bread and plastic utensils. For carnivores, the kefta and shawarma are certain to please. Kefta, a charbroiled combination of ground beef, lamb, parsley, onion, and spices has a texture much like that of a sausage, with a subtle range of tastes that makes it good on its own, and even better when combined with hummus or tabbouleh. The shawarma—rotisserie roasted strips of lamb and spices—is similarly savory and tender.

Though the meat dishes were tasty, the vegetarian ones left my dinner dates and I battling for the last bite. The tabbouleh is excellent. As opposed to the usual grain-dominated version, this tabbouleh consists mostly of mint leaves, tomato, and onion, all coated in a light lemon dressing. The complexity of flavors and particularly the preponderance of mint and lemon makes it a refreshing complement to the heavier meat and beans of Middle Eastern cuisine. The café's falafel is equally satisfying. Not fried too heavily, the outside is the right amount of crispy and the inside has a particularly interesting blend of tastes—not just chick pea, but chick pea, parsley, and spices (as a result of the parsley the inside was actually green). The stuffed grape leaves and baba ghanouj are notably good side dishes as well.

Still, try to restrain yourself from the savory to save yourself for the sweet. Feeter, consisting of flaky dough soaked in a rich syrup around a soft sweet cheese filling, was the dessert that everyone kept shaving smaller and smaller, hesitant to grab the last bite, but not quite able to surrender it to others.

Middle Eastern beverages were also a nice compliment to the meal. Truly remarkable is the sahlab. A warm drink, sahlab is a thick blend of milk, starch, coconut, and mixed nuts: there is a harmonious array of flavors from gentle nuttiness to a sweet cinnamon all underlined somehow by hints of caramel. Banana with milk and honey has the consistency of a thin milkshake and its cool sweetness nicely balances the salt and spices of the food.

Restaurant

Alexandria Café and Restaurant 400 Crown St. Sun. - Thurs., open until 1 a.m. Fri. - Sat., open until 3 a.m.

The other accompaniment to dinner was the hookah. A three-foot tall Middle Eastern tobacco pipe, with a long extended mouthpiece, the hookah is meant to be enjoyed with or after meals. Given the choice between regular and apple-flavored tobacco, we opted for the latter. Its perfumed smoke was a delightful break between mouthfuls. We were even given a fez to don while enjoying the smoky treat.

The prices at Alexandria Café and Restaurant are as tempting as its food. Sandwiches cost between $2 and $4, and plates (with salad and pita) cost between four and six. Combo plates, fit for two people, range from $9 to $11. To further entice students, whom Ghaly hopes will "both eat and hang out" at his restaurant, he plans on getting live entertainment and DJs on the weekends. Great for a relaxed dinner, quick bite, or late night snack, Alexandria Café and Restaurant promises to please.

Back to A&E...