Middle-Eastern Gem in Nolita

Delicious Taim falafel wrapped meatballs.

For those who haven’t read my post on Maoz, I am a fan of falafel. I especially like the green falafel. Serious Eats did an article on the best falafel sandwiches in NYC. After reading about how wonderful Taim’s falafel, I had to try it for myself. Since it was located in the West Village (somewhere I don’t visit often since it’s far for an UESer like myself), I had to trek there after work. I remember that I had already eaten dinner, but was really curious about Taim. I met a friend at the place and it was tiny. There was just a very small bar with a few stools if you wanted to eat in the restaurant. I also remember it was extremely warm inside. Anyhow, I ordered just a side of falafel and it was delicious!

Recently, I have been reading in my food blogs about this new restaurant called Balaboosta. Apparently it was opened by the same owner of Taim. After the NYTimes wrote their mostly positive review of this restaurant, I was definitely intrigued. I studied their menu and I discovered they served Taim falafel wrapped meatballs for dinner. I convinced my boyfriend JRA to have dinner at this restaurant. We decided to skip the typical pre-Theater restaurants in the Theater District for Jersey Boys. I had no problem making a Friday 5:30pm reservation for the same day on OpenTable. We arrived a few minutes late, but the restaurant was pretty empty. In NYC, most people eat after 7pm, so we were lucky!

JRA's favorite: fried olives!

Since JRA absolutely loves olives, we started with the fried olives and the falafel wrapped meatballs. They gave us a basket of really crispy bread (almost like crackers). It was good. JRA ordered the skirt steak for his entree and after reading several reviews on Yelp and Foursquare, I decided on getting the popular Chicken Under a Brick. Our small plates came out and the fried olives were perfect. They weren’t cold and the olives themselves were nice and salty. I love salty flavors. Then our falafel came out. It tasted like I was back at Taim (except I wasn’t sweating) and inside each large falafel was a small meatball. Yum! Our waiter/busboy was pretty attentive and made sure to fill our water. At the same time, he wasn’t hovering which is exactly what I prefer.

What a tasty dish. Look at the crispy skin!

JRA and I enjoyed the last bits of our small plates before our entrees were brought out. My chicken looked fantastic. The skin looked crispy and almost fried. I was under the impression that this type of chicken dish was cooked in an oven? I took a bite of my chicken and it was juicy (even the white meat)! I tried some of the Israeli couscous and it was tasty as well. There were bits of apricot mixed in which I actually didn’t mind at all. I usually have issues with having sweet things mixed into grains/rice (such as raisins in rice). Jeff’s skirt steak was equally as delicious. It was seasoned/marinated very well. He let me have a bite and it was definitely not lacking in the flavor department. His came with big pieces of roasted sweet potatoes. What a perfect combination!

All in all, JRA and I agreed to add this restaurant in our NYC restaurants rotation. The entrees were all below $30, which is pretty reasonable for the quality of the food. It’s definitely a perfect date restaurant. I highly recommend making reservations online if you want to go on a busy night (Thursday-Sunday). The host told me that it gets busier later in the night and there weren’t THAT many tables. They also have a full bar, but I didn’t have any alcohol as I wanted to be full awake for Jersey Boys (amazing show by the way).

Balaboosta
214 Mulberry Street (at Spring Street)
New York, NY 10012
212.966.7366
Takes Credit Cards
Reservations Recommended

Delicious Dutch Falafel in Manhattan: Maoz

I can’t remember the first time I had falafel. I’m thinking it was after I graduated from college and moved into the big city. Originally, my favorite falafel joint was Chickpea right on 3rd Avenue and St. Marks Place. However, to my disappointment, they changed owners and names multiple times since then and the remaining Chickpeas in the city now only serve healthy “baked” falafel. Umm, no thank you? I only eat FRIED falafel. My friend LTR (she has contributed on this blog before she moved to Hawaii), mentioned to me about this Dutch falafel chain called Maoz that is awesome. Apparently there was an unlimited salad bar so you could add toppings to your falafel. I was a bit doubtful about Maoz because it was a Dutch chain and what do they know about Middle Eastern food? After being heart-broken with Chickpea’s demise and unimpressed with Mamoun’s, I was scared to try a new place and be disappointed. I admit, I only tried Mamoun’s once, but I clearly remember my sandwich being full of shredded lettuce and like two falafel balls and a ton of tahini sauce. Also, I don’t recall their falafel being very flavorful. I prefer falafel with a lot of cilantro so that they’re green and not brown like Mamoun’s.

One fine day, my friends and I met up at Maoz in Union Square. I ordered the Maoz Sandwich with hummus. I was really impressed with the salad bar. They have many toppings to choose from (olives, tomatoes, pickled eggplant, fried cauliflower/broccoli, and more). They also have a number of sauces (tahini and hot sauce of course). I’m not much of a condiment girl. I never have french fries with ketchup. I skipped all the sauces. I focused on the fried cauliflower/broccoli. I don’t know how Maoz makes their broccoli, but it’s so tasty. It’s probably because it’s salty (check) and fried (check), which are two things I like very much. The Maoz Sandwich is pretty huge. It contains five falafel balls along with a good amount of lettuce (not over-whelming) and hummus. I was pleased to find that the falafels were green which meant there was a lot of cilantro. The broccoli was delicious as well. It was a very filling meal. The only problem with Maoz? There’s very limited seating. There is at most 8 stools at the bar area. There have been times where I’ll buy my sandwich and then go to the crazy Whole Foods and eat in the food area.

Yum, I want more broccoli!

After I went back to Maoz to confirm that it was a good falafel place, I informed JRA, my boyfriend. I don’t know how many people know this, but our first “date”, I was crazy enough to take JRA to my beloved Chickpea. I had just met him in person at the airport for the first time. I knew that he had never had falafel before, but I was oblivious to the fact that maybe he wouldn’t like this “exotic” food. Anyhow, ignorant me took him to Chickpea and we bought our sandwiches and sat at their bar area because all the table seating was full. We had a romantic first dinner at Chickpea. I soon learned that JRA is an extremely fast eater. He tells me it’s because he comes from a “big litter”. Since when did four children equate to a big litter? I on the other hand struggled with eating my sandwich like a lady. I failed to realize that falafel is quite a hands-on meal. I managed not to make a huge mess. I have no idea what JRA thought of me at that point. I was just glad that I survived the meal without any issues. He also told me that he really liked the falafel sandwich. Yay! I do not recommend Maoz for a first date. It might be better for a third or fourth date.

JRA's Maoz Creation. Yummy.

I took JRA to Maoz for the first time and he went crazy. He loves olives and they have both green and black there. He filled up his sandwich with olives and hot sauce. He even put a few broccoli in there since I told him I was obsessed with them. He thoroughly enjoyed his sandwich. He even said that it was better than Chickpea because of the salad bar. Recently, I have downgraded to the Maoz Junior because it only has three falafels and this means I can load up on even more broccoli. Lately, Maoz, has been featured on Groupon, so I’ve been stocking up on Groupons. Whenever JRA comes to visit me in NYC, we definitely try to go to Maoz for a quick lunch.

 
Maoz
38 Union Square East (between 16th and 17th Streets)
New York, NY 10003
212.260.1988
Takes Credit Cards