Kassab’s.
I never would have remembered the name. I do remember that in 1992, after months of fast food that got so bad I even longed for Dunkin’ Donuts, the place was like heaven. A little dive, down a side street in a marginal part of town. But with tabouli and babaganoush and fatoush salad and a salad I’d never had before, with black eyed peas, all so fresh and delicious that I wished I could stay right here in Pittsburgh and eat there every day. That salad, I never found it again.
Sleek.
So simple, eh? With spinach and bulghar wheat, I think, and olive oil and I’m not sure what. Sleek is good. SO GOOD.
Kassab’s has moved onto the main drag, and the place is quite nice. That part of town, the South Side, now has a strip of mall stores where, in ’92, empty steel wharehouses stood. But Kassab’s. What is in the shwarma? Is it nutmeg? Something flavorful and a little sweet. I am sure that Kassab’s is an open secret in Pittsburgh, but for me it was a discovery. A rediscovery, even. It’s really here! It’s still here! With sleek!
Delicious, cheap Lebanese food. Kassab’s. 1207 E. Carson St.
As good as you can eat outside of Lebanon, I’ll bet. Not that running to Lebanon for a meal is much of an option right now, except for Tony Bourdain and his crew.
