The Sunny Mediteranée

The blogging project has been subject to some drift lately. On a couple of occasions we ran out of time, and I resorted to my old standby, the Cheesesteak Shoppe. I am happy to report that this return visit, one of many I have made over the years, did nothing to lessen my high opinion of their Philly cheesesteak. We also were blindsided by the fact that many Asian restaurants have chosen Tuesday as their day off, a fact that we could have easily researched in advance but simply neglected to do. One day when we left the house late we stopped in at a new taqueria in San Rafael (Marin County.) This was a perfectly good experience, and I made the age-old mistake of eating something larger than my head, or at least so it seemed as I downed a chicken molé super burrito. While fully appreciative of the generous amounts of chicken provided therein, the taqueria was merely competent, like so many others, and the recipes and salsas completely predictable. So why go further? Just another taqueria among many, and like most, they don't hand-press their corn tortillas, which immediately marks them as simply ordinary.

Yesterday things took a turn for the better; we decided to try La Mediteranée, a cafe located just south of Pacific Heights in the chic part of Fillmore Street. This neighborhood, and Fillmore Street in particular, has steadily climbed upward and now sports elegant boutiques as well as a host of restaurants. Many of the city's popular restaurants are flocking to this area, opening new outposts. Notable are Dosa (second location) and Pizzeria Delfina (second location, plus they run a full restaurant next door to their Mission District pizza shop.) SPQR is another notable, and it is the second restaurant from a group that also runs A16 in the Marina area on the north side of San Francisco.

La Mediteranée, in contrast, has been on Fillmore for a while. It is a small cafe with a few compact outside tables that specializes in what looks for all the world to be Lebanese food, plus some daily fresh fish specials. We were seated outside immediately; Andrea settled on a falafel sandwich, while I was planning to opt for the Lebanese Plate, which offered a choice of three items from a fairly extensive list of Lebanese specialities like Pomegranate Chicken, dolmades, hummus and many more. As we were ordering the diners next to us received their meal. Andrea asked what one of their dishes was, and it turned out to be a Chicken Shwarma sandwich. It looked so good that I ordered it instead of the variety plate.

As we waited for food it was hard to believe it was the middle of winter. The Bay Area had record-shattering warmth that day, beating the old maximums by quite a bit, so we basked in 70-degree air, and I sat on the sunny side of the table and absorbed a decent dose of sunlight, which hopefully sufficed to boost my vitamin D. The latest research has elevated the importance of this vitamin as a factor in maintaining good health; it seems to affect calcium absorption, which can in turn affect bone density. It also seems to be a factor in the prevention of cancer. So even though my skin tends to burn very quickly, I have become more tolerant of the sun (Andrea and I call it 'Mean Mister Sun',) albeit only for short periods, and the time afforded for lunch at the cafe was just right.

The food exceeded expectations. Both sandwiches were served in a rolled-up lavosh bread, the same sort of wrap used in Levantine Sandwiches. This had been made crisp, probably with a brief stay under a salamander broiler, and had a pleasant crunch to it as you bit through. The fillings offered all the usual flavors of Lebanese dishes, but were exceptionally balanced so each spice and condiment shone through; a hint of mint here, a dash of cinnamon there. Although the portion on the plate did not appear enormous, it proved to be quite filling, and the sides were equally caloric regardless of the diminutive serving size. One of the tastiest was a potato salad, with the potatoes chopped finely, blended with some parsley and lightly pickled in a vinaigrette. There was even a neatly arranged bit of fruit, which washed down the rich flavors nicely at the end. All in all, a delicious outing and an unexpected pleasure as we basked in the mid-winter, very summer-like weather.