Middle Eastern served with a side of sex appeal
By ARIEL SHEARER | May 6, 2011
A few doors down from the Brighton Music Hall, there's a new Middle Eastern food stop grilling kabobs with sex appeal. The fresh interior of the Boston Kabob Company immediately drives you to blurt out "For here!" after ordering — if only because it's the cleanest place to grab a bite on a budget in Allston. Décor may be lost on hipsters, but prices and portions are on point for students and the frugal. The only dishes more than $10 are lamb kabobs for $10.99 and lamb chops for $11.99. Meat plates come grilled with red and green peppers and onions over a rice pilaf (sub for fries), and Boston Kabob serves a hefty side portion of Middle East salad with diced cucumbers and tomatoes marinated in lemon and olive-oil dressing ($3.99 as an appetizer).Other kabob plates ($8.99) come with your choice of kafta (spicy seasoned ground beef), beef kabobs (tender steak), chicken breast (marinated and cubed), or chicken pargeet (tender boneless thigh meat). Sample beef and chicken skewers with the mixed-grill plate ($9.99), or choose either in pita or roll-up sandwich form ($6.99). Falafel sandwiches are $5.99.
The dining area includes four tables, each seating four on purple benches complementing warm yellow walls — aesthetics are an obvious priority in this Israeli eatery. Food arrives at your table on rectangular white platters, making the color of veggie chops pop. Pita is made fresh on site, and two puffy pieces are big enough to finish dual servings of baba ghannouj and creamy lemon olive-oil hummus ($4.99/appetizer) that come with the signature veggie plate ($7.99/appetizer sampler). This platter includes eight crunchy-outside, moist-inside, two-bite balls of falafel drizzled with tahini sauce, and portions of tabouleh ($4.99/appetizer) and Middle East salad.
Their baklava is $1.99, more than a little steep for a tiny cut (baklava needs to be at least three bites if it's more than $1). But baklava like this is rare. Its wet shine winks seductively from the counter as you try to leave, and it's physically adapted to ooze nectar-thick sticky sweetness. With dessert enough to inspire food blue-balls, Boston Kabob raises the bar for cheap eats.
Boston Kabob Company, located at 164 Brighton Avenue, in Allston, is open Monday–Thursday, 11 am–11 pm; Friday–Saturday, 11 am–3 am; and Sunday, 11 am–1 am. Call 617.254.BEEF (2333)
Related:
Review: Thailand Café, Review: Victor's Italian Restaurant, Review: Scallops and lamb soar at Havana South, More 
- Review: Thailand Café
I don't read Chinese, but I do read Chowhound, where I learned that Thailand Café — a long-running Central Square purveyor of mediocre Thai cuisine — changed hands a couple of years ago. The English-language name didn't change, but the sign now also says "Authentic Sichuan cuisine" in Chinese.
- Review: Victor's Italian Restaurant
The kind of tiny Italian-American joint only the cognoscenti seem to know
- Review: Scallops and lamb soar at Havana South
If you visit the Web site of Havana South, a new restaurant in the Old Port, you will find a photo of Barack and Michelle Obama looking handsome and happy.
- Review: Whaddapita
Whaddapita is an indicator of our bright lunch-future. It brings to Mediterranean food the trend of giving upscale-fast-food treatment to regional cuisines, sort of like the BajaFresh chain did with Mexican.
- Review: Cook & Brown Public House
When a restaurant moves into a location that has seen several eatery incarnations, it must work doubly hard to establish its reputation, both around the state and in the neighborhood. Cook & Brown Public House seems to be accomplishing both with aplomb.
- Review: Tucker's Bistro
Tucker's Bistro has always held a kind of enchantment for us, as for many other customers. The tree outside the restaurant wrapped in tiny white lights is only the beginning.
- Review: Basil's of Narragansett
Like the rolling surf a stone's throw from Basil's of Narragansett, a fine dining restaurant as reliable as this one never changes when it comes to essentials.
- Review: Apsara Palace
It's more than being loved by our mommy and being safe from barbarians from the North that we take for granted, isn't it? I found myself again and again going to Apsara Palace for lunch when I was in town, kind of a gastronomic migratory impulse, before it occurred to me to review the place and figure out what was so appealing.
- Review: Area Four
Area Four's Web site describes it as "Coffee, Bakery, Bar, Oven."
- Exploring Frontier’s new menu
"Civilizing" the frontier was a long and complex process, with lasting effects on our culture.
- Review: Al Huda
The long coastline of Somalia is at the root of its culture's many complexities.
- Less
Topics:
On The Cheap
, food, Allston, restaurants, More
, food, Allston, restaurants, reviews, beef, hummus, tabouleh, Brighton Music Hall, baklava, Less
