LEO's Eat'N'Blog: Inside story at Sahara Café

[Robin Garr]

<table border="0" align="right" width="310"><tr><td><img src="http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/sahara.jpg" border="1" align="right"></td></tr><tr><td>Sahara Café chef Mavash Rubino is from Iran, and the range of Middle Eastern fare that she prepares shows a distinct Persian accent. Sahara ranks right up there with other local Persian spots. LEO Photo by Nicole Pullen.</td></tr></table>LEO's Eat 'n' Blog with Louisville HotBytes
(Sahara Café, Wild Eggs)

A small puzzle accompanies Sahara Café, a new Middle Eastern eatery in St. Matthews: Is it a restaurant inside a shop, or is it a shop inside a restaurant?

I think maybe it's both. Located in the new retail building at the northeast corner of Lexington Road and Bauer Avenue, just down the street from Lotsa Pasta, its close but comfortable quarters incorporate the family-owned Sahara Café and A Small World, a gift shop featuring, they say, "handcrafted home-decor items from around the world."

It's an amiable mix, with enough wood-look tables and purple chairs to accommodate maybe 20 hungry people for lunch or early dinner, an open kitchen where you can watch the cooks and servers bustling around, and an eclectic collection of, um, home-decor items that range from attractive sangria pitchers to oversize, good-looking Persian carpets hanging on the walls.

But we came for the food, and the food is good. Very good indeed, in fact. The geographical name may suggest North Africa, but the friendly young server told us that the cook - his mother - is from Iran, and the range of Middle Eastern fare that she prepares shows a distinct Persian accent that won't be unfamiliar to fans of the city's other excellent Iranian restaurants. Write this down: Sahara Café's fare is right up there with such other local Persian stars as Saffron's and Shiraz.

Full reports in LEO and on LouisvilleHotBytes.

We have been wanting to try Sahara Cafe, and LEO 's glowing report was the stimulus for choosing a restaurant last evening.

We found our experience to be very similar to the LEO report. I liked the open kitchen.. it did feel like we were eating in the chef's home (the coziness added by the gift shop decor helped out, too.) We ordered a starter of hummus, the combo plate for two, and Mediterranean beef patties for our children. We enjoyed everything, but a few things stood out for me. Like the LEO reporter, we chose the chicken shawarma on the combo plate, but we had it served with the rice of the day which had lentils, instead of plain basmati. It was a very tasty combination and everyone loved it. But the biggest surprise for me was how much I enjoyed the stuffed grape leaves. The spices were elusive for us as well, but we didn't stop eating long enough to really analyze it! The lavash was more tender than what is served at other local restaurants, and I preferred it that way. Another surprise was that my four year old's favorite was the falafel patties... she used them to shovel mounds of the yogurt-and-herb dressing into her mouth!

We had enough leftovers for a hearty lunch for two. Dinner came to roughly $30 including tax & a good tip for very hospitable service. Now that's extremely reasonable for two adults and three children (who have big appetites for their age).

We'll definitely return; we want to try the wraps next visit. In fact, Sahara Cafe will be added to my favorites list of cheap eats to recommend to my friends.

We went on Saturday (only a couple of days after the review) with our family of four. We found the hummus to be okay - we like Shiraz better. Unfortunately they were out of stuffed grape leaves, which were supposed to come with our appetizer platter. When Mavash found out that we weren't told that when we ordered, she insisted on comp'ing us two orders of Baklava.

Our entrees were outstanding: we had the chicken and the beef shwarma and DD ordered the Eggplant special. Really interesting spices and served over red lentil basmati rice. All three were very large and we had lunch leftovers the next day. Sahara salad was very good too. Service unfortunately was painfully slow and Mavash was very apologetic that they had been slammed by traffic from the review. But really nice people, great food, great value so despite the service issues on this visit, we'll definitely be back again.

Deb

Not too many places are open for dinner on Mondays, but Sahara is, and I went there for the first time. It was a very nice experience.

I had the appetizer sampler ($7.99). Tabooli, hummus, dolmeh, falafel and lavash. They bake the lavash fresh every day and it's terrific - delicate, tender and flavorful. Lavash is best eaten fresh, so this was a nice surprise. It's also for sale by the bag for $2.50.

The hummus was good, although milder than I've had elsewhere (Al Watan, for one). The dolmeh was great; the grape leaf itself was very "leafy", tasting somehow fresher and less briny than ones you usually find. The filling was a warm and tangy mixture of creamy feta and tabooli. The tabooli itself was airy, the grains of bulgar very small and suspended in an ample cushion of chopped parsley. The falafel were disk-shaped and very dense, but also good.

Just based on the sampler platter, these individual dishes were put together with a lighter touch and a delicacy of flavoring than I have had at other Persian restaurants.

The service was very warm and friendly, and the little shop that shares the space invites a good browse.

While I was there, two "regular" customers came in for takeout, and Ms. Rubino, the chef, proudly showed them her LEO review.