Well Fed On the Town

Every so often I get a hankering for a good plate of hummus. I mean hummus, not chipotle sundried tomato garbanzo bean spread from a plastic box on the supermarket shelf. I’m talking about a plate of hummus with a well in the middle shaped by a tablespoon, drizzled over with spicy olive oil and maybe a few whole garbanzo beans. And a basket of fresh pita bread, not cardboard wedges, but rounds of pita bread that you rip with your hands and use to mop up the thick, tangy paste. I think most people who’ve spent time in the Middle East get similar hunger pangs now and then. Whether you’re Lebanese, Syrian, Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Saudi, North African, or plain old American–there’s nothing quite like a simple plate of hummus and pita.

Alhana Foods is one of my favorite places to go to for a Middle Eastern food fix. Alhana is a family run deli/restaurant/Middle Eastern grocery that carries a variety of foods familiar to people who spent time in a number of Mediterranean countries. Alhana has a refrigerator case of cheeses and dairy, meats, and a frozen food section including traditional favorites such as lahem b’ajeen, bourek/bourekas, manti, and mlawah. There is an ample bakery section, including various types of pita and flatbreads, Armenian bread, cracker bread, and numerous traditional sweets.

The Alhana sit-down menu is composed mainly of “plates” including rice, Arabic salad, hummus, and one of the following: shawarma, falafel, kebab (including shrimp, beef, lamb, chicken). Main courses can also be ordered in a sandwich rather than on a plate. Some of my favorite menu items include kibbeh–a fried, torpedo shaped bulgur-coated meatball–and za’atar bread. The kibbeh is crisp and crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside. The meat is traditionally spiced, a little sweet with allspice, and flecked with pine nuts. The za’atar bread is a messy breakfast treat. A slightly sweet, soft round of thick pita is topped with a generous sprinkling of za’atar spice mix and olive oil. You can buy a bag of Alhana’s za’atar bread to take home. It’s great with a fresh Arabic salad and a tangy chevre, labneh, or halloumi. It’s also nice as the base for a Middle-Eastern style pizza topped with goat or sheep cheese.

During my most recent visit to Alhana, I ordered the regular shawerma plate, being a combination of thinly sliced broiled lamb and beef over rice with hummus and Arabic salad. The meat was nicely spiced and pleasantly tender without being greasy. The simple al dente rice was a perfect foil to the meat. My only reservation about the rice was that it tasted a bit like the parboiled variety, with a slightly too toothsome mouthfeel. Nonetheless, the rice was enjoyable, with just the right amount of flavor. The tart freshness of the Arabic salad–served with a pickle slice and a pickled chili–cuts the slight fattiness of the shawerma. However, the salad serving is more condiment than accompaniment. Salad enthusiasts such as myself may want to order an extra side of salad for $3.99. Soft, fresh pita breads were served for mopping up hummus.

After a meal at Alhana, I often take some time to stroll around the store and explore all the familiar and foreign food items. (I always get a little nostalgic when I pass the shelves of Elite Turkish coffee). If you’re looking for baharat spice mix, or spices for samneh (North African spiced clarified butter), this is the place to get it. This time, I picked up some sahlab drink mix, dried mloukhieh leaves, lovely fresh za’atar bread, Cypriot halloumi, Bulgarian kashkaval, and some unfiltered Lebanese olive oil. A dry bouquet of wild Greek oregano (similar to the herb za’atar) was a fortunate find.

After bidding the owners “shukran” and “salaam,” I walk past the stacks of Middle Eastern newspapers near the door. The headlines of the Israeli paper Yediot Aharonot seem to jump off the page with their loud thirty point font. I sigh and smile. Thank the gods for an oasis like Alhana.

This write-up follows several sit-down visits to Alhana Foods over the course of about a year.

Alhana Foods
25 W 37th Ave.
San Mateo, CA 94403
(650) 349-3300
Mon-Sun 9:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m

Photo courtesy of jatbar.com.