For Arabs, eating Middle Eastern food is like making love

There are many great Middle East restaurants in America, but one of the best is Zakia in Atlanta, Georgia; an expression of the Arab saying that Arabs eat food with the same passion of making love

By Ray Hanania

PAID/Food Middle Eastern/Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Arabs don’t just eat Middle Eastern food. They make love to it with all the verve and passion that one hopes for in a beautiful relationship.

They put the food to their lips like a passionate kiss. Dipping the bread in the hummus, or savoring the Kibbeh Nayyeh is slow and sensual passion of love. You savor every taste. It shouldn’t be surprising that Arabs are a passionate and emotional people.

It all helps, of course, when you happen to be dining at a Middle East restaurant that has a chef who truly knows how to transform the food menu items into a fabulous dinner experience.

There are a lot of great Middle East restaurants that offer inspiring recipes and menus. But when you find one that offers a rare combination of hot stuffed grapeleaves with lamb, even if as a small appetizer of five rolls, and a fresh plate of perfectly seasoned, mixed Kibbeh Nayyeh (Lebanese steak tartare), you have hit the culinary G-Spot.

There is a great restaurant in Chicagoland in Orland Park called Zwar. And another that offers the same experience in Washington D.C., the Lebanese Taverna. And I found a third one when I recently traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to cover the presidential debates.

While in Atlanta, I got to enjoy one of the south’s best Middle East restaurants, Zakia, 3699 Lenox Road.

The food combination of the Kibbeh Nayyeh, lamb stuffed grapeleaves and hummus perfection was a G-Spot on steroids. It was so good and I felt so guilty, like I had cheated on a spouse.