NYCReview
photo credit: Carina Finn
Bedawi Cafe
Included In
Bedawi Cafe is currently only open for takeout, but during more normal times, snagging a table beneath the colorful tapestries in their backyard garden always made us feel like we’d stepped into an Arabic fairytale. They do the classics really well, so you can’t go wrong with things like tabbouleh, falafel, foul, and merguez, but the specialty items here really shine. The chicken ouzi comes baked in a dome of phyllo dough perched atop the kind of garden salad that goes beyond the purely decorative. Tear open the top and you’ll find richly spiced rice and chopped chicken studded with almonds, raisins, and peas. Their pizzas, which can be topped with everything from spicy lamb sausage to a melange of leeks, scallions, and other green herbs, are baked to order on personal-sized rounds of pita and are truly excellent.
Food Rundown
Assorted Salad
To get the best bang for your buck, order this dish and choose five cold appetizers for $15. Don’t skip the makdous—tiny pickled eggplant stuffed with walnuts that are sneakily hard to stop eating. Round out your assortment with classics like foul, labana, hummus, and tabouleh, then get a side of juicy merguez sausage, and you’re set for dinner.
Chicken Ouzi
Tear open the pita crust to reveal a treasure trove of richly spiced rice, chicken, and vegetables adorned with dried fruit and nuts. This is big enough to share, and it comes on a bed of salad that feels like a dish on its own.