Cuisine Review

Only in the Deep South would you find ethnic food served by an overfriendly country girl. I guess it is just one touch Café Royal found and kept, left over from Charlene’s “Sprit.”

It is nice to enter a restaurant where you don’t see a DAK canned ham under a red light.

On one of my recent visits to Café Royal, a Mediterranean restaurant housed in the former Drayton Place, at the corner of Royal and Dauphin Streets, my friend and I were exuberantly served. Café Royal is operated by the owners of the Jerusalem Café, in WeMo off of Airport.

In past incarnations, I have found the Drayton Place interior to be dramatic and visually appealing, yet cold, cavernous and loud. For me, it is a bit surprising that the addition of heavy, attractive drapes has muffled the noise, maybe ever so slightly, and altered the cold, open feeling. They seem to have a receptive crowd, as both times I found the restaurant to be fairly busy. There is plenty of seating, as you will remember.

If you have eaten at Jerusalem Café, you are familiar with the menu. But for those who are not, I will give you a broad overview. The beginning courses, rather like appetizers but could be meals, present the basics. Hummus, baba ganouj and falafel and stuffed grape leaves, for example. There are two that are a bit different, the first being grilled shrimp with feta ($7.25) where the shrimp is topped with the feta and herbs, served alongside grilled vegetables.

I liked the Krass stuffed pastry ($5.95), a combination of spinach, feta and onions, rolled in phyllo pastry and baked. It was crispy on the outside with plenty of melted feta – not dry at all, at least on the day I tasted it. On my first visit, my friend and I got the Royal Combo ($7.50) – falafel, hummus, baba ganouj, stuffed grape leaves, tabouli salad, feta and calamata olives. Neither of us like olives and asked if we could substitute – after a bit of confusion, our chatty waitress told us there were only two olives – fine.

The falafel is well prepared with a moist interior with a strong parsley influence and mid-range hard shell. I will say that while garlic is found in just about everything here, it is rather mild not zesty or strong. I did not leave with all-day garlic breath, or at least no one told me so.

The hummus is creamy and full of lemon, which cuts the strong taste of chickpeas. It is not my hummus, but I think I like Café Royal’s as the best in town as far as restaurants go. I also find favor with the Baba Ganouij, where roasted eggplant is blended with tahini (sesame seed paste), lemon juice, garlic and Mediterranean spices (cumin for one). Both of these are sprinkled with a rich hot sauce.

To eat these, a big basket of warm, soft pita triangles is at table. As far as the tabouli goes – it is made with finely chopped parsley and tomatoes mixed with cracked wheat, lemon juice and olive oil, it is passable. My outlook and preference would be for more parsley, but everyone has their own taste. Last, the stuffed grape leaves – I don’t like stuffed grape leaves for any particular reason, but for you I ate them. For this, the hand-rolled leaves are stuffed with rice, tomatoes and herbs, and are then simmered in tomato sauce with fresh lemon. No complaints from me, if you like them.

The rest of the menu is ambitious. For salads there is a fattouch salad ($5.95) of chopped tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, parsley, feta and olives that are mixed with toasted pita bread chunks. I have had this filling and tasty salad at the other place and quite liked it. The have a Greek salad that can have gyro meat or grilled chicken added ($6.95 – $8.95). The weird thing on the menu is pizza and none of them are very Mediterranean.

For sandwiches there is of course the gyro ($6.95) – juicy and tender lamb and beef slices topped with Swiss (?) and served with cucumber yogurt sauce. All of the sandwiches are ample and served in pita. I love gyros and this one was chock full of lettuce with a creamy, light cucumber sauce. The other time I ordered the shawarmah chicken ($6.55), which contained large chunks of marinated chicken with warm cumin and coriander spices and also topped with Swiss and the cucumber sauce. The sauce is a nice foil for the powerful spicy chicken. What is up with the Swiss cheese? I have no idea, but asked to substitute feta both times with no problem. This is much more traditional and a whole lot better tasting. I mean, Swiss is for turkey or fondue.

A chicken kabob sandwich ($7.95), dill chicken ($6.95) and beef shawarmah ($6.95) sandwiches complete the meat sandwich category. All the sandwiches come with either a small Greek salad or lentil soup. The salad was OK, the soup delightfully bland. For the vegetable sandwiches, the one my friend tried was the eggplant Parmesan ($6.95), which she says she liked, but cannot seem to remember much about, other than “it was good.” She does not seem to be a good candidate to sub in for me when I cannot write a review sometime. But, I did forget to taste it.

There are quite a few entrees, like mousaka ($11.95) where layers of eggplant, ground beef, tomato sauce, and a mixture of cheese, potato and béchamel sauce is baked together. To me, it is too heavy for lunch, but this would be a good dinner option. Most of the others that seem interesting are combination plates and there is an appealing vegetarian lasagna ($10.95).

So, now downtown has yet another ethnic restaurant in a space that was in need of occupancy. They should last in this spot with reliable food.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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