Yemen Cuisine

Elite '08

0

132

Rhett H.

Kansas City, MO

Something you should know before checking this place out.  It may have its phone wiretapped.  Not because there's anything egregious going on, but because it is about as yemeni and traditional as you can get.  There's nothing here from the outside that makes you think you are in America besides the English on the menu or in the air spoken by the minority Brooklynites in the area.  That being said, it's some of the most authentic food around.  Actually, I've never been to Yemen, but if I did I can gander that this would be near it.  

My evidence:

Article A.  The tables are mostly huge tables meant for groups of people to eat.  This is no big surprise, though, because most of the other yemeni restaurants in the area do the same thing.

Article B.  Lots of yemeni-style food.  There's no dilution or catering to Egyptian or Morrocan or Persian food here.  Straight yemeni food. (again, as far as I can tell).  

Article C.  No waiters, exactly.  You go up, order your food, and sit down until they come to serve it to you.  Most dishes are to be shared, and you get this amazing bread that they bake fresh (the yemeni flatbread also common at these restaurants).  In the back, you can see the huge ovens and vats of stuff they'll serve you.  

Article D.  That's it.  No fancy decour, no televisions or big speaker system with the latest Arabic/Persian music, it's just about the food here.

It took me a few passes-by to get the nerve to go in.  But when I walked by during the lunch hour, the smell drug me in.  I can't vet the cleanliness or the healthiness of the food, but then again, you don't go to these sort of restaurants if you're too worried about that stuff.  

Overall, this is a unique place which may go the way of the immigrant Italian neighborhood that was once what Cobble Hill was all about.

See a photo at http://www.flickr.com/...

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