Date Night: The Pita House, Old Town Alexandria

As has been intimated, I spent a few months abroad living in Istanbul, Turkey. Though I didn’t stay but 5 months, it was undoubtedly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I spent a great deal of time perusing goods at the Grand Bazaar, ogling barrels of cumin at the Spice Market, and sipping tea along the Bosphorus. However, it was the food of the Middle East that has left both my memories and appetite very much alive.

 

 

I don’t think I ever touched Mediterranean food prior to the move abroad, but I will say this for the Turkish – they eat Turkish food. Every. Single. Day.

Here on any given night, you have your pick from dozens of ethnic varieties – Chinese, Mexican, Greek, Italian, Japanese, etc. In Turkey, it was all I could do to track down a single ripe avocado, let alone an entire Mexican restaurant. I found one near the Grand Bazaar, but the day I went in need of avocado – they were out. I may have done my own transformation into the Hulk that afternoon. Needless to say, it wasn’t pretty and my quest for Mexican was rarely satisfied.

Though they stick to their own food 99% of the time, it is out-of-this-world delicious. Lots of vegetables, yogurt, meat, and their soups are killer (sometimes, I still think ‘çorba’ when I want soup – one of the few Turkish words I could commit to memory). After 5 months, I was needing some variety. But 2 years later, I’m starving for some Turkish food.

Over here however, when this girl wants Mediterranean, she can find it in abundance. Fortunately in DC it’s pretty easy to come by. In Old Town on Saturday night, Scott and I dropped into a Lebanese restaurant, the Pita House, and my appetite was satisfied and my tastebuds were indeed tickled.

Lebanese and Turkish food are similar, and so therefore I was able to discern all of the menu items for Scott who is still getting used to my obsession. Every time we have it, I think he enjoys it more, and this time we spent most of our meal grunting to each other with full mouths how amazing it was. Not sure either of us took a breath between the appetizers (a plate of baba ghanoush, hummus, tabbouleh, spinach pies) and our entrees. I had a falafel sandwich, and Scott fought off my fork for his fatteh bel djaj (a chicken/yogurt concoction – amazing!!). I spoke with our waiter at length about the differences between food in the Middle East, and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Scott and I left satiated, and more than satisfied at the service and the overall atmosphere. We didn’t get many pictures at The Pita House, other than a few grainy iPhone pics, but I encourage you to peruse the website and check out their gallery here.

Though happy to have my feet firmly planted on US soil, I occasionally think back fondly to Istanbul and all that my eyes beheld. For now, I’ll settle on living in a city where I can get my fill of amazing Mediterranean food.

-Al