Mall food courts can be a nifty place to dine, even if you’re not going shopping.
OK, so it’s not fine dining, but it’s fun dining. Everybody gets what they want, so everybody’s happy.
People tend to gravitate to their same go-to foods. I always get Asian and family members predictably get Italian or Mexican fare.
We broke out of our rut recently on a trip to Everett Mall for dinner. We decided to all try the Middle Eastern dishes at Babylon Mediterranean Food in the food court.
The restaurant is in a corner between a teriyaki stand and a Japanese place. I looked longingly both ways at the familiar noodles bathed in simmering sauces and was tempted to stray.
Not this time.
A menu photo board at Babylon showed a selection of colorful dishes that were foreign to me: shawarma ($8.99), fatosh ($5.99), shish taouk ($9.99), baba ghanoush ($5.99), falafel ($6.99) and Tabouli ($4.99).
Even with the photos, I didn’t know what to order.
“Mediterranean food is different,” said Wafaa Jabbar, who operates Babylon with her husband, Amer Albaytari, and their 18-year-old twins.
“Americans ask many questions,” she said. “We ask them to just try it.”
The family fled Iraq 15 years ago and lived in Qatar before coming to the U.S. so the twins could get a college education. In Qatar, Jabbar was a physical education teacher. Albaytari was a professional volleyball coach; before that, he played on the Iraqi national volleyball team.
Now, the family is sharing their culture through food, which is also their livelihood.
They opened Babylon last October after the success of their tiny Everett Mall kiosk, Tamara’s Corn, that sells only one thing: corn in a cup ($3.50) seasoned with garlic, lemon and spices, a common snack in the Middle East. It’s easy to order there.
Their Babylon restaurant has about 15 menu choices that all look tasty.
“Turkish kebab is very famous in Arab and Middle East countries,” Albaytari said. “We do it with lamb and beef together.”
His wife showed me how the meat is wrapped around giant metal stakes the size of swords for cooking over a grill. It is served with greens, tomatoes, onions and other vegetables.
A popular dish with Americans is chicken biryani, he said. “Chicken with rice and vegetables and also the special flavor. We’re using a special oil, not like any oil.”
Cinnamon is one of the spices in the rice. Other common seasonings include cardamom, onion powder, black pepper, yogurt, cumin, sumac and lemon.
I asked about the gyro lamb.
“We do it on this machine,” he said of the spit. “After that, we cut it and put it on the grill with some onion and some flavor. The oil is very important. This oil is not heavy. It’s light. Healthy oil, not healthy 100 percent, but better than American.”
Options abound for vegetarians. “Fatosh uses cucumber, onion, tomato,” he said as an example. “Also hummus. Lentil soup. And baba ghanoush is eggplant.”
Food is served on paper plates. Hot Iraqi tea, free with any order, is brewed in a samovar and served in clear glass cups on saucers.
Yes, diners are entrusted with pretty glass cups in a mall food court.
“Tea is very important,” Jabbar said. “It is a traditional thing. When guests come to our home, we give them tea.”
In this case, food court diners are their guests.
The sweetened tea is delicious, even for non-tea drinkers like me.
The food is different in flavor and texture, but different in a good way.
The fatosh was a crunchy mix of chopped vegetables and beans with a tangy dressing. The gyro lamb was soft, almost like bread, piled on a bed of rice. The shish taouk was tender chunks of marinated chicken on a stick.
We liked everything, but the Turkish kebab was the favorite. I see why it is so famous.
Baklava and Iraqi pastries ($2) are available for dessert.
I want to go back to try the falafel, a fried chickpea patty, and the eggplant dip.
After all, it’s good to try new things.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
Babylon Mediterranean Food
Everett Mall food court; 425-423-0456
Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Vegetarian choices
Alcohol: None
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