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For middle eastern cuisine, Mountain view's own
Best Bite Restaurant truly lives up to its name. Whether you're
looking for kabobs, falafel, gyros or a more exotic Middle Eastern
dish, Best Bite is the place. The prices are all very reasonable,
the servings are large and the food is exceptionally good.
The restaurant isn't much to look at, inside or
outside. From the exterior of its El Camino Real location, Best Bite
looks like it makes its home in a converted Diary Queen or A&W,
which might , in fact, be the case. Inside, restaurant is crowded
with simple brown woods and wobbly wooden tables. A counter area,
where people can eat sitting on bar room-style stools, is located
right at the entrance---and I mean right at the entrance--- which is
not a very welcoming design. But the owners do what they can to
spruce up the ambiance with prints, paintings and dried flowers, and
with music that ranges from Cher to traditional Middle Eastern
instrumentals.
There is an appetizer menu, or you can just munch
on the raw-onion wedges and bread brought automatically to the
table. I'll pass on the onions and go with a starter dish like the
borani ($3), plain yogurt with spinach and garlic, or the torshi($2),
a mixture of vegetable aged in spicy vinegar.
A good choice for appetizer is the Hummus(2.95).
The Garbanzo beans are pureed to just the right consistency and the
flavor, high lighted by a few shakes of paprika and tahini sauce, is
nice, though too much olive oil makes the dish a bit runny.
Best bite is known for its sandwiches, specially
the gyros, which come filled with either lamb or beef. The kabob
sandwiches are also worth while; the koobideh sandwich($.4.99)
combines ground beefs & charbroiled tomato in a flour wrap. The
boneless chicken kabab sandwich is a good deal at $6.99. The large
chicken chunks are lean but juicy and full of nice Smokey flavor.
Inside the wrap, the poultry is combined with a fresh
salad mix. best Bite, of course, also offers regular kababs, sans
the sandwich fixings.
The restaurant serves excellent falafel
dishes--falafel sandwich($4.99), falafel plate($5.99) and falafel
combo($6.99). The tahini sauce is very rich, and falafel balls are
dense, crunchy and have a fine texture to them. The flafel sandwich
is what bring me back to best bite again,
Beyond the sandwiches, you will find middle
eastern treasures in the main courses and house specials. Th e barg
kabab($10.99) will likely please beef fans. Fillet mignon is
marinated, grilled then partnered with basmati rice and charbroiled
tomato. The Joojeh kabab($10.99) offers a whole Cornish hen in a
similar fashion. The Geime badmjan($7.99) combines lean beef, split
peas, eggplant and tomato sauce with the restaurant's lovely basmati
rice. The aloo esfenadj ($8.99) isn't a pretty dish, but the gloomy
brown mixture of beef, spinach and plum tastes wonderful. The
overriding flavor is very sweet, but combined with basmati rice,
it's not overpowering.
The best way to sample the goods at the
restaurant is to bring a friend and order one of the Best Bite
Specials for Two, which include two appetizers, two main courses,
two soft drinks and two teas, and range in price from $24.50 to
$29.50. On the other hand, I may just go solo and order one of those
anyway. |
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