Pick of the Week: Zaytoon

PICK OF THE WEEK:

ZAYTOON

3655 S. Durango Drive, 685-1875

Zaytoon (Mediterranean for olive) features a variety of entrees and daily specials. But it is also a market with aisles of food products from the Middle East and Europe that are nowhere to be found in any large grocery store. Menu items include a family recipe for hummus made with lots of garlic. There are beef and chicken kabobs with grilled tomato and basmati rice, falafel sandwich, veggie kabob and a chicken sandwich in lavash bread served with fries or salad. Several special dishes are aash-e-reshteh, an Iranian vegetarian noodle soup; whitefish with vegetable rice; zereshk polo (barberry rice with grilled or roasted chicken); gheimeh (split pea casserole with beef and basmati rice); and ghormeh sabzi, herb casserole sautéed with beef and rice. Popular appetizers are shirazi salad (cucumbers, tomato and onion in lemon dressing); torshi, which is pickled fruits and vegetables; a shallot and yogurt dip called masto musir; and kashk-e bademjaan, an Iranian eggplant dip. Featured desserts are baklava, Napoleon, shole zard (Iranian saffron rice pudding) and zulbia bamieh, an Iranian fried pastry dipped in honey. Entrees begin at $7.99. Zaytoon is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. The market opens at 9 a.m. daily.

-- Jack Bulavsky