Friday, January 30, 2009

brunch options

I must say that I am now spoiled for weekend brunch options. Within a 6 block area, I have my pick of Cafe Gutenberg, Millie's and now my latest option - Azziza's.
A couple of visits in to this latest entrant in my neighborhood have been quite pleasant. More of the ubiquitous brick decor of course but what I liked about the place was its rather unpretentious interior and friendly atmosphere. Got to chat with the co-owner Rusty for quite a long time. That kind of clarified why the place was ostensibly Lebanese (her mother was) and yet didnt have the usual suspects on the menu (missing some of my favorites like fattoush, kibbeh and shockingly shawarmas !). They did have a fairly decent selection of items from the cedar country coupled with fairly "generic" sandwiches and frittatas (some good vegetarian options). Rusty's son Billy (formerly of Billy Bread - a place that we had embarked on a futile attempt to find last year only to discover it was closed !!) was manning the kitchens and I was quite pleased that the bread (while not from Billy) was fresh and crisp !
I've tried a nice frittata (not Lebanese - served with greens and home fries) and the Koosa (Lebanese - stuffed squash which was quite good especially with a side of beans). They do state that they use only the finest olive oil from Lebanon which of course adds credence to their roots in the middle east :)....I think this place definitely has potential. Future visits are planned and more words shall be typed out in due course to supplement this sloppy review. Unfortunately, Azziza's is open only for br/l-unch and isnt serving dinner yet. It will be interesting to see if it does.

Update: While I thought that for once, I was possibly ahead of the 'curve' :), I just read the Style piece this week on the place !! I think this place will be busier in the coming days. I still feel though, that they do need to do some publicity and in particular, put up a sign or something (at least one thats not obscured by that huge awning !).

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