Popular Garden City breakfast spot adds dinner menu; Taco Fest returns
AlTayeb restaurant in Garden City is well-known for its breakfast fare.
And we’re not just talking eggs over easy.
AlTayeb, which translates to “the delicious” in Arabic, serves Lebanese classic dishes from fool (mashed fava beans) to falafel to a variety of labneh (strained yoghurt) side dishes and balila, which is a dish of cooked chickpeas mixed with a fresh garlic lemony sauce and parsley, according to the menu.
So popular is AlTayeb, in 2021 the restaurant made the New York Times' top 50 list of restaurants. There's also a second location in Dearborn.
But the Garden City spot, which opened in 2017, has now extended its hours and will serve some dinner options in the form of sandwiches.
Samer Hamade, co-owner of AlTayeb, said they’ve added a new menu that will be offered starting at 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. They will start out slow with several sandwich items, including fatayel, a marinated beef tenderloin sandwich. There will be 8 sandwiches offered in all.
“The sandwich (Fatayel) is very popular in the southern part of Lebanon,” Hamade said. “It’s marinated and then cooked for hours, resulting in meat that melts in your mouth.”
The beef tenderloin sandwich is served on pita with tahini sauce, pickles, and tomatoes.
“This sandwich is what kicked off the extended menu,” Hamade said.
Hamade also added a grilled chicken sandwich to the menu, which, he said, is similar to grilled tawook chicken that’s served with pickles and garlic sauce.
The dinner menu will also include a falafel sandwich, and spicy potatoes from the breakfast menu will be served as a sandwich. New on the menu will be a grilled kafta with onions and herbs, a heavily spiced ground meat called sujuk and makenek, a Lebanese sausage sandwich.
The extended and new menu will be available from 3-8 p.m. (AlTayeb’s regular breakfast menu will be served on Sunday 8 a.m-4 pm.) Sandwiches range from $5.50 for the falafel to $8 for the beef sandwich.
Future plans are to serve what they have for breakfast later in the day and evening as small plate offerings.
The sandwiches are only available at the Garden City location.
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AlTayeb in Garden City is at 873 Inkster Road and is open 8-8 p.m. Mon.-Sat., and 8 a.m.-4 Sun.
Taco Fest returns and expands in Royal Oak
The Royal Oak Taco Fest is returning this year and will run from June 30 through July 4.
Organizers said this year the street festival will feature more food trucks, entertainment, live music, and plenty of tacos and tequila.
This year's location will be on the east side of Main Street between 11 Mile Road and 4th Street. There will be three additional entrances to the event, organizers said.
Many downtown Royal Oak restaurants will kick off Taco Week starting on June 26-29 with tacos and drink specials on menus leading up to the festival. Restaurants include Rock on 3rd, O'Tooles, Lily’s Seafood, Bar Louie, Jolly Pumpkin and Condado Tacos.
Admission to the festival is limited. Tickets are $8 in advance and $12 at the festival gates. Tickets are for admission only and do not include food or drinks.
The number of food options is up this year as more than 50 taquerias, popular taco trucks and eateries will provide food offerings. There are tacos, Mexican specialty dishes, vegetarian options, and festival specialties of deep-fried candy bars, mega BBQ, and Italian shaved ice.
Food trucks participating include southwest Detroit’s Torta Express, Que Pasa Taqueria from Sterling Heights, and Los Dos Amigos Taco Truck, which has been serving the area since 1999.
The event also features five stages of entertainment, including more than 50 metro Detroit entertainment acts featuring rock, R&B, alternative, jazz and country music. There are also strolling Mariachis that will provide music while roaming the festival. Other events include returning favorites such as Lucha Libre wrestling matches, hot sauce challenge, and taco-eating contests, tequila sampling, a dog pageant, a Kids Zone, axe throwing, and artisan vendors.
Festival hours are 4 p.m.-11 p.m. June 30, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. July 1-3, and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. July 4.
For more information about the Royal Oak Taco Fest and to purchase tickets in advance, visit RoyalOakTacoFest.com or call 248-541-7550.
Contact Detroit Free Press food writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Popular Garden City breakfast spot adds dinner menu; Taco Fest returns
