El Basha Mediterranean Grill

7503 Pacific St. Omaha, NE, 68114
402.934.6266
M-Th: 11 am - 8:30 pm
F-S: 11 am - 9 pm
Sunday: 12 pm - 7 pm
http://www.elbashagrill.com/ (Warning: albeit nice and soothing, music will play as soon as you navigate there.)

I won't claim to be an expert in all things Lebanese. In fact, I'm very far removed from expert status. One of my best friends from high school is Lebanese. I spent a lot of time over at his parent's place playing pool (alliteration, much?), watching bad movies, chattering away with idle talk for hours. I got drunk for the first time at his house (Was that with the bottle of stolen Absolut a different buddy nicked from The Champion's Club? Or was that the second time I got drunk? I forget.) and we planned firework shows throughout June there, as well. I was never offered hummus or falafel, nor did I expect to. I have had Sabra hummus from the grocery store on more than one occasion, so I feel like I have a decent idea of what passable hummus should taste like. And I ate at Amsterdam Falafel and Kabob once, a while back, so I feel like I have an okay idea of what good falafel is. But that's about the extent of my knowledge of Lebanese cuisine. This is all a long winded way of saying "I had no idea what to expect when I walked in to El Basha."

El Basha is a very, very small restaurant. And that's okay. The cramped quarters are well adorned with busy Middle Eastern patterns in deep reds and gold. The tables have pretty table cloths with a glass top (easier to clean; I don't blame them there), and the chairs are well padded and covered with faux leather, and some of them are showing their age a bit. There was nice Middle Eastern music playing over the speakers. In the very few places of open counter space, they have various Middle Eastern vases and other kitsch. They have a small area of outdoor seating as well, but this being January in Omaha, well, it obviously wasn't in use.

I went twice for this article. The first time I visited was on a Wednesday night, strategically chosen so it wasn't busy. There were two couples already eating when I entered. The second time I went was mid Saturday afternoon, about 2:30. I was surprised to see how busy the place was. After I sat down at the last available table along the wall, the only open tables were the two in the middle of the room.

You place your order at the counter at the back of the restaurant, pay, fill up your drink at the pop machine just to your left, find a table, and wait to be served. The menu is a little larger than I thought it would have been, considering the size of the room, and I can only assume, the kitchen. The service was very quick, even on the busy Saturday afternoon.

On Wednesday, I ordered the Beef Shawarma wrap platter, which comes with a drink, potato salad, and either a lettuce salad or soup, and with tax comes to a paltry $9.86. The soup that day was Lentil, and it being as cold as it was that night, soup sounded really good.

I've never had lentils before this, let alone in a soup. The bright yellow kind of surprised me.

The soup looked like it had gotten the blender stick treatment, which is alright. That gave it a creamy consistency. It was topped with paprika (I think) and a little bit of chopped cilantro. I know of some people that wouldn't like that latter touch, but I thought it was a nice addition. I was served with a lemon wedge and a nice crispy piece of toasted pita. Although it was good by itself, there's a reason it comes with the lemon. The tart citrus flavor a little squeeze imparts brings the soup to life. I thought I tasted some mint sometimes. Good stuff.

Not sure why I thought the potato salad was more important.

I've never had shawarma before, so this was an interesting experience. First, I know there's all kinds of flat breads along the Mediterranean and throughout the Middle East, but I'm not sure tortillas are one of them. No biggie, though, I can look past that when what's inside is so good. First, the thin strips of beef, well seasoned, were tender and easy to bite away. The grilled tomato was excellent, and tomatoes, as a generality, are something I avoid if they're not in season. They make their own pickles, which are very thinly cut lengthwise and give a nice salty, tart flavor that doesn't overtake the rest of it. The thin tahini sauce ran out the bottom as I came to the end of the wrap, but otherwise was a good addition.

As you can see from the picture, this is no Hy-Vee potato salad. More of a mashed potato, but less creamy, and with nice big chunks of potato throughout. It had a surprising tart flavor with it, a nice bit of lemon that works very well with the other seasonings that was used. Although certainly not cold, it was certainly not a hot salad.

When I next visited on that following Saturday, I was just coming of a day's work, and was a little hungrier. I ordered the hummus, which has received rave reviews in the past, and the falafel wrap platter. This time I opted for the salad. 

I'll never go back to Sabra again. Well, not immediately.

I'll just come right out and say it: the hummus was excellent. It was very creamy, and the addition of olive oil made it even more so. It was served with four halves of warm, fresh pita. Simply, if for no other reason, you gotta come here to try it at least once.

I love it when the salad I'm given has no iceberg lettuce in it.

The salad was good not great. It came with thin slices of green pepper, cucumber and tomato, and very lightly tossed with a vinaigrette of some ilk. I'm really not sure as I was never told. No big deal, I could at least tell it was made there and not something that came out of a squeeze bottle. The dressing was good, but there was just a small bit of it; my dad, who likes to drown everything in sauces or dressings, would have been very displeased.

I really need to work on my staging when I take these pics.

I'm not exactly sure what made me choose another wrap, as there is very little difference between the two I ate; the only difference was they swapped out the beef for falafel, everything else was the same. Well, except for the addition of the house-made pickles and what are, I think, sport peppers as a garnish. The potato salad this time was oddly a little warmer than what I was served Wednesday.

As I mentioned before, I'm no expert in Lebanese food, and if given a choice I'd prefer my food undercooked rather than overcooked, but I think I can speak fairly confidently when I say the falafel was overdone. The outside was a little bitter and the inside was dry. The tahini sauce helped a little, but overall I came away much less impressed. Given the track record I've had up until now, however, I'd be willing to give the falafel another go. Maybe after I sample the kabobs, though.

P.S.: www.elbasha.com is something completely, hilariously, different.