Day 10: Hyde Park

Just yesterday I was thinking to myself, "I have forgotten how much change Obama is going to bring to America!" Then I realized why; I had not seen an Obama bumper sticker in three whole weeks! I needed to remedy that situation, so I dropped everything and went to Hyde Park:

Hyde Park was founded by a man named Paul Cornell who wanted to use the neighborhood to attract businessmen and their families. Hyde Park hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and the Palace of Fine Arts from the Exposition still exists today. Now, Hyde Park contains such Chicago landmarks as the Museum of Science and Industry and the Renaissance Society. But most importantly, Hyde Park is the home of the University of Chicago. Because Hyde Park is a college campus, there are not exactly a wide variety of restaurants to choose from. Some of the classic Hyde Park favorites include the Medici, the University Market (or, as cool people say, the UM), and Istria. However, I have gone to school in Hyde Park for eight years, so I had been to all these places gazillions of times. So I decided to go somewhere that I have only visited a few times before. And as an added bonus, this restaurant serves an ethnicity of food about which I have not yet written. The restaurant is called Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen:

In case you noticed, this is not the front of the current Cedars restaurant. This is because I did not have my camera today... But it's not my fault! It was stolen! I was walking to the bus stop today when I tripped over my shoelace. Before I could get up, these three specters attacked me! But luckily I had my subtle knife inside my purse, right next to my wallet, my camera, and my spare Furby. But sadly, when I pulled the knife out, my camera fell out as well. The specters, obviously afraid of my knife, took my camera, snickered at me, and ran away. Bottom line: I left my camera at home, please forgive me, and I will have real-life pictures tomorrow.

To get to Cedars I took the number 12 bus east on Roosevelt until the Michigan stop and then walked to the Metra train. I took the Metra heading south until the 55th/56th/57th street stop. At 1206 E. 53rd Street you will find Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen. If you are looking up this restaurant online, you may have some issues with finding a correct address. 1618 E. 53rd Street is NOT the correct address. That is the address for Cedars of Lebanon, which is currently a pile of rubble. That was the name and location of the original restaurant, but it has since moved to 1206 E. 53rd Street and changed its name to "Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen." However, because the old restaurant was named "Cedars of Lebanon" I am able to call the food that I ate today "Lebanese" food, even though it was really the third time that I have eaten Greek-y food thus far. Well, that is not exactly true. Cedars serves Middle-Eastern food. The owner of the restaurant is from Jordan, but the food served at his restaurant comes from all over the Middle-East. Items like couscous are North African, hummus and dolmades are served everywhere from Greece to Turkey, and some of the foods are even Indian.

The food at Cedars is delicious. One good thing about my project is I am required to try as many items on the menu as possible. So, purely for the sake of research, my mom and I ordered the Cedars Sampler. This consisted of four dishes, the first of which was falafel:

Falafel is a ball of fried chickpeas mixed with spices. Falafel is originally from Egypt although it is served in Greek and Turkish cuisines as well. Falafel is sold as a fast-food side dish, sort of equivalent to an American french fry. The next dish on the plate was hummus, which is very good to eat with falafel, but falafel can also be served with tahini or even a salad. If you order falafel at Cedars, you should eat it in a sandwich with the pita you are served at the beginning of the meal. It is also good to put some of the hummus or the salad in the sandwich as well:

The next dish on the plate was tabbouleh:

Tabbouleh is a Leventine Arab dish. It is basically a mix of herbs, usually parsley and mint, and other spices with some tomatoes, lemon juice, and olive oil. I am pretty sure cilantro is used in most American tabbouleh, which is a crime because cilantro is disgusting. In Middle-Eastern cuisine, tabbouleh is its own dish, and is usually served upon a lettuce leaf. However, in America, we usually eat tabbouleh as a dip. Sidenote: the largest bowl of tabbouleh as recorded by Guinness World Records weighed 1514 kilograms. I would have thought the world would have imploded with that much cilantro in one place:

It really is an evil-looking herb, don't you think?

The next dish on the plate was dolmas, also known as dolmades. But I have already written about dolmas, and I do not want to bore you, since you were kind enough to read my self-indulgent one-sided conversation about my lunch, so I will move on to the main meal. We ordered the Mashawi platter, which was another combination platter. Mashawi literally means "mixed grill" in Arabic, and a mixed grill is what we got. At Cedars, the Mashawi platter comes with three meats, the first of which is lamb and beef shawarma:

Beef and lamb shawarma is very similar to the Greek gyros meat, however shawarma is seasoned slightly differently, and it is pieces are shaped differently. They are usually smaller and chunkier. Also, because they are smaller pieces, the outside is roasted more than it is in gyros meat. Gyros is usually slightly greasier and it is softer than shawarma. However, gyros meat is always a mixture of lamb and beef. Shawarma can be anything from lamb, beef, goat, chicken, or a mixture of these meats. The second dish on the Mashawi platter at Cedars was chicken shawarma:

The third meat on the Mashawi platter was a kefta kabob:

Kefta is usually a meatball mixed with various ground meats and spices. However, in a lot of Middle-Eastern cooking kefta is served not as a ball, but as a cylinder on a stick, making it a kebob. The kefta kabobs at Cedars are served with roasted vegetables in between chunks of meat. The vegetables are delicious, as well.

The platter was also served with really thin french fries, which were, of course, part of the reason that we ordered the dish. These fries are almost like thick, greasy potato chips because of their size and shape. I wish those specters had not eaten my camera; the fries looked kind of interesting...

For dessert, I had, once again, baklava. But this time, I had it with pistachios:

Pistachio baklava tastes very similar to walnut baklava, however pistachio baklava tends to be served with the pistachios showing because pistachios have such a nice color. Also, pistachios do not absorb moisture as well as walnuts do, so the pistachio baklavas are not quite as juicy as walnut baklavas.

Cedars was a very good experience. Our service was speedy, however our diet virgin Cuba Libres were served with Pepsi and not Coke, so a few points were deducted for that. Many people compare Cedars to The Nile, also in Hyde Park, which also serves Middle-Eastern food, but I prefer Cedars. The prices are comparable, but Cedars has a better atmosphere, and a wider variety of food. Plus, the food is just better. Our total meal came to $37, for two people, but then my dad and I both ate the leftovers for dinner, so really it was $37 for four people.

Tomorrow I will eat either Korean food or Indian food depending on what Johnny Depp, my date, is in the mood for tomorrow. Until next time, happy eating!