Mid-East Cafe and Restaurant offers enticing flavors of Middle East, Mediterranean | Local Flavor

My family and I got an authentic taste of the Middle East on a recent Sunday night at Mid-East Cafe and Restaurant on the Zip Strip near the University of Akron.

The eatery at the former Thursday's Lounge, the college bar that was a popular dance spot for decades, offered us the opportunity to try everything from Turkish coffee to the restaurant's signature halal chicken with rice.

I'd been curious about the place after checking out their website, so I lassoed my husband, Steve, along with my daughter and niece into going with me on a culinary adventure. It was especially fun to go with my Lebanese-American niece, Emma, who had just come home that week from teaching English in Beirut.

Three of us started with Turkish coffee ($4), a thick, strong coffee made with fine grounds, like a powder. The coffee, which is meant to be drunk slowly, was served in pretty demitasse cups about half the size of a full coffee cup.

Emma pointed out that with Turkish coffee, which is unfiltered, the fine grounds sink to the bottom of the cup. I added two packets of sweetener, but the strong coffee was still too much for me considering I'm not a regular coffee drinker.

Neither Steve — who is a coffee drinker — nor I had drunk Turkish coffee before. We agreed that it was too thick for our taste, but we were glad to have had the cultural experience.

Next, I enjoyed sampling the delicious, hot and soothing Saudi mint tea ($3), which needed no sweetening. And all of us were gaga over my daughter Elise's iced tea, made in house with green tea and a very tasty combination of sugar, vanilla syrup and coconut.

Linger over appetizers, entrees at Mid-East Cafe

It was nice to feel unhurried as we spent two hours dining at Mid-East Cafe and Restaurant. The business does a lot of takeout, but we decided to dine in, sitting at a table with a black and white-checked vinyl tablecloth.

The decor at this eatery is nothing to write home about, with the dark, drab look of the former Thursday's. Owner Mohamed Ismail, who opened the restaurant in 2021, said plenty of hungry college students come now for late-night food. He's planning on fixing up the place soon with his brother, which will include a furniture update.

Mid-East Cafe and Restaurant does not serve alcohol, but diners should be aware that it does have a hookah lounge with couches in the back section of the restaurant, which we could not smell from our front table.

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For dinner, we were happy to try a variety of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean foods from the restaurant's large menu. Ismail, a native of Egypt, works with head cook Hashmat Saad, also from Egypt.

We received attentive, quick service from our waiter, Mohanad, who was from Saudi Arabia. First, we ordered Egyptian fava beans (ful mudammas) and baba ghannouj/ghannoush with an abundance of pita bread for dipping. We also added vegetarian stuffed grape leaves.

The five grape leaves (also called dolmas or mahshy warquenab) were small and served with a lemon wedge. The baba ghannouj — made with roasted eggplant, lemon, garlic, tahini sesame paste and olive oil — had a surprising smoky flavor that we weren't expecting.

The star appetizer was the fava beans ($6), mashed and mixed with garlic, cumin and lemon juice and drizzled with olive oil. The comforting mashed beans had the consistency of chickpea hummus but were a slightly darker color and served warm.

Emma ordered the halal chicken dinner with rice ($12), which turned out to be the most popular thing on Mid-East Cafe's menu. In fact, Ismail said the dish accounts for 67% of his sales.

The marinated grilled chicken in this halal dish was extremely tender, drizzled with delicious white yogurt sauce and perfectly accompanied by fragrant rice seasoned with cumin. It's inspired by the halal carts that are a popular street food in New York, where Ismail used to live.

I asked Ismail later how his restaurant makes the chicken so tender, and his response was, "This is my secret."

We all enjoyed our entrees. I got a beef shawarma wrap ($10), featuring pita bread filled with beef, lettuce, tomatoes, onions pickles and garlic sauce, which was filling enough that I brought half home. Elise enjoyed a generously sized plate of chicken shawarma ($12) with rice, which came with a side of the wonderful yogurt sauce and featured spicier chicken than the halal chicken.

Steve went for shrimp over rice ($13), with the shrimp lightly battered and fried and served with the same amazing rice and yogurt sauce as well as a hot and spicy chili sauce.

Order sandwiches from Greek to American

At this restaurant, folks can also get everything from a gyro to a Philly cheesesteak or a burger with fries. The large menu includes vegetarian options as well as whiting or tilapia fish, a shrimp basket, chicken wings and salads, including a Greek salad, fattoush, tabouli and couscous.

We plan to return for carryout because I want to experience the full halal chicken entree. All of us would recommend Mid-East Cafe and Restaurant as carryout to our friends and family.

I'm also looking forward to trying some more exotic-sounding drinks, including a date seed shake, Palestinian Limonana (lemon/mint shake), and a laban zabadi yogurt and honey shake, all of which cost $5.

To complete our fun and informative Middle Eastern meals, Emma and I tried the shole zard ($5), which is a Persian saffron rice pudding. The chilled dessert, made with rosewater and topped with golden raisins, was too sweet for Emma's liking. But it was absolutely the perfect dessert for me.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Restaurant: Mid-East Cafe and Restaurant

Address: 306 E. Exchange St., Akron

Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday-Saturday, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday

Phone: 330-400-4104

Information: Mid-East Cafe & Restaurant on Facebook, mideastcafeandrestaurantllc.dine.online for carryout

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Mid-East Cafe and Restaurant offers taste of Middle East in Akron