During a recent grocery-shopping-excursion, Cookie and I faced the ever-daunting task of what to feed one vegetarian and one carnivore from the same restaurant. Thankfully, I lovelovelove falafel and rarely have the opportunity to eat it, and we both love hummus, so off to Mamoun’s (East Side) on St. Mark’s Place we went.
What struck me first about the small, unassuming place that I pass by whenever I hang out with my friends (I’m constantly in the St. Mark’s Place area), were the extremely low prices. I mean, $2.50 for a falafel, and $5 for the platter. $2 for the stuffed grape leaves (which I had to ask if they contained lamb- at a Lebanese restaurant I went to once upon a time, they contained lamb, but these thankfully did not). Everything was incredibly cheap, which was great for a quick snack while shopping/walking around, or for a late night snack after drinking…
The grape leaves were alright, I’d have liked them with some lemon wedges or a bit more flavor to them. They were stuffed with fairly standard – I believe rice and spices.
I opted to order the falafel platter, because I really wanted falafel and don’t like getting my hands dirty (especially while shopping; there was no bathroom in the place, and after touching lots of stuff, I wasn’t about to pick up a messy sandwich, get sauce on my fingers, and, knowing me, then lick my fingers covered in shopping germs… yea, I’m weird). This is what I got:
(Minus the grapeleaves in the background left) Two pita pockets, a ton of fresh veggie salad, and 6 falafel! Yumm! The pita pockets were cold and a bit hard, which made me a bit meh on them, but the rest was very tasty.
Everything in the above pictures (including the grape leaves) came out to $7! That’s ridiculously cheap, and I was super stuffed, despite having eaten only 2 grape leaves.
The salad mixture – diced tomatoes, lettuce, parsley, onions and tahini poured liberally over everything – was bright and crisp, very fresh. I had no complaints.
And the falafel itself… oh, the falafel. Perfectly crispy on the outside, deep fried to perfection, the inside well-seasoned and delicious… I was a happy camper. I scarfed these down with forkfuls of the salad, and sometimes smushed into the pita bread in a makeshift sandwich-like attempt, and enjoyed my dinner very much. Seriously, given these prices, you can’t beat this meal. Nothing was much more expensive than what I ordered, either, even if you had meat.
Cookie, ever the classic “Her eyes are bigger than her stomach” case, ordered the vegetarian sampler platter, which clocked in at $7 for your choice of three vegetarian sides. She chose falafel of course, hummus, and baba ghanouj. I tried the hummus and was surprised at the taste; there’s a distinct different taste to it from other hummus that I’ve had in the past. Almost extra garlicky but something else as well. The texture was a bit grainy for me, but otherwise, very tasty.
Overall, we both left the place completely stuffed and happy, and only having spent $7 a person. What a great vegetarian meal for both of us (they do have meat here, but I opted not to try any on this trip. Next time, however, I am definitely interested in trying some kofte (meatball, loosely translated) to see how it holds up to the kofte in Turkey!
Yvo says: For a snack or a quick, inexpensive meal, I can definitely see why there are often lines out the door at Mamoun’s. I will defintely be back when I’m in the area – for a recharge while shopping, a quick bite, or even a full meal, the options are many here.
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