Walking along the Loop, you might not notice a change in the landscape, but a new restaurant—Ranoush—has risen where Saleem’s once reigned. The new locale is difficult to spot as it has kept much of the style and aura of the former establishment.

Ranoush is actually Syrian while Saleem’s was Lebanese, but this subtlety went unnoticed by my American palate—the main difference in the food was the goodness. Ranoush seems to have beaten Saleem’s in that respect.

I went with my friend, senior Danny Marom, and we split the “Ranoush Menu” for $22. The combination buys you three appetizers (called “mezza” on the menu, separated into cold and hot options), a choice between two entrées, mint tea, and baklava. As the appetizers regularly cost around $5 each and entrées between $12-17, this ended up being a very good deal.

For our appetizers, we chose the hot mezza of Kibbeh, fried balls of spiced meat, and Arayes, a pita stuffed with beef and pine nuts. The Kibbeh had a perfect crunch-exterior-to-soft-interior ratio, but I felt that the flavor was too mild. The Arayes had a pleasantly stringy texture, like pulled as opposed to ground meat. The roasted pine nuts in this dish added a nice crunch to contrast with the texture of the meat, and both were covered in light flavorful grease. It was just enough to satisfy our hunger and keep us interested in the rest of the meal to come.

From the cold mezza menu we chose a classic: hummus. The hummus tasted like it does in Israel—lemony and smooth. I would dare to say it competes with, and maybe even surpasses, Sabra (a brand of hummus found at global grocery stores and known for its authenticity). The real sticking point for me was the sumac on top, which pushed it over the edge from nicely done to simply great hummus.

Unfortunately, the pita (middle eastern flatbread) that came with the hummus did little to add to the dish. It was thinner than a pita-eater might expect and contributed virtually nothing to the flavor, while demanding a bit of chewing. Gone was the pleasant and satisfying bite of puffier pitas. The flatbread also came out cold, an easily amendable error that could make a world of difference if fixed.

For the entrée, we were given the option of choosing between two dishes, and we chose the “Ranoush mixed grill,” a combo of grilled chicken, shrimp and beef kebab. The beef and the shrimp were both fine—a bit tough, but still tasty. The chicken blew my mind. As Marom explained, the morsels of chicken “tear apart at the perfect rate to allow your top tooth to delicately meet your bottom tooth.” It broke apart as though there were nothing there but a cloud of meaty juiciness.

With the end of the meal in sight, we slowly devoured the baklava alongside a pleasantly minty tea. The chefs at Ranoush use a rosewater syrup instead of the typical honey coating on the baklava: a pastry made with layers of buttery phyllo dough and walnuts, with pistachios sprinkled decoratively on top. I found the rose flavor an apt alternative to more honey: It provided a refreshing twist on an otherwise heavy dish. I also want to commend Ranoush on its vegetarian-friendly menu; the restaurant offers a lot of vegan and vegetarian options—a total of nine vegan and 12 vegetarian mezza and three vegan entrées.

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Tags: delmar blvd, delmar loop, eating out, loop, ranoush, saleems, st. louis, Stepping Out, syrian food

This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 3:47 am and is filed under Scene, Stepping Out. You can follow any responses to this entry through this feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.