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Middle Eastern
I grew up in the Middle East, and am very spoiled when it comes to this category, so I apologize for my outrage, but if someone on the planet can get it right somewhere then someone else should get it right too, right? Right!
Wrong!
Any place that has shawarma in San Diego is lying to your face. This is not shawarma: cut up a chicken, fry it in a pan, sprinkle some pepper, throw it into a roll, put some garlic sauce on it, serve it to dumb American.
NO!
There is great shwarma at Zankou chicken, but that's it for the USA. If you've never had their shawarma, or "tarna" which they call it, maybe to distance themselves from "Arabic" which has gained a bad rap around town, you need to get it right now. Tarna is a made up word I think, though this is an Armenian chain so who knows. Just get there and eat it please, the closest one to SD is in Anaheim, so it's not that far.
BUT!
We live in San Diego! America's finest city! With great Middle Eastern restaurants like Bandar! Med Cafe! Aladdin! A whole host of them and they all suck. They all suck.
Why? Because they say they have shawarma and yet do not have a roitisserie to cook their meat with, that means they don't have shawarma end of story. This should be called chicken sandwich with some garlic sauce what they serve you. Jesus. I'm getting all worked up. And no, Jesus is nothing to do with the great crusader/ottoman whatever is going on with politicians and dumbasses. Go pray for good shawarma, San Diegans, oh Muslims! Oh Jew! Oh Christian! If we can come together and make it happen I swear world peace will follow!
I'm sorry, I really am, I just get upset.
And a plate of hummus and grape leaves isn't going to make it better. Just take shawarma off your menu habibi, bleez, if you don't have shawarma maker, and don't have marination, and cook like that, and cut and sweat and mix all the ingrediants.
OK: Here are my Middle Eastern restaurant review (including Turkey, Persian/Iranian, and Afghan):
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