Showing posts with label Mediteranean food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mediteranean food. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

More Fun Playing with Tastee Bites

Tastee Bites, a charming little spot at 5416 Mayfield Road (440-605-9946, no website), has really hit its stride since I last wrote about it. Chef-owner Charlotte Bechara has streamlined her menu and made it economically competitive with even fast food lunches. She now offers, among other delights, a selection of grilled Lebanese and American sandwich wraps for $4.99 for vegetarian and $5.99 for meat varieties. Most important, though, is that all of Charlotte's food is real food that is cooked from scratch. It is truly "slow food."



These are some of the goodies we've recently enjoyed at lunch:


Original Steak Wrap (cheese omitted at diner's request)


Kosher Hot Dog

Split open and grilled.




Grilled Chicken Wrap (pickled turnips omitted at diner's request)

He left out the best part! The pickled turnips are amazing.


Kafta Wrap

Seasoned beef and lamb patty is grilled and wrapped with goodies in this blurry shot.


Kafta from an earlier visit, with all the trimmings: hummus, veggies, parsley, pickled turnips

This was before they were grilling the wraps, so it is more oval than square. Even though I'm not usually a toast kinda gal, I think the grilling gives it great texture. But this shot showed off the fillings better!



This is gooood stuff!


Moujadara Wrap

This was simply fabulous. The filling consists of lentils, rice, and caramelized onion, which are mixed with cooked vegetables. The sandwich was tasty, filling, vegetarian and healthy.



While we were enjoying our sandwiches, Charlotte emerged from the back kitchen with several containers of freshly made items. She then deposited the following on our table:


Freshly made, from scratch, Tabouli Salad with Pita



This salad explodes with flavor. Fresh, fresh, fresh.

Now, our table received another comp as a result of a miscommunication - Charlotte thought someone in our group was having a birthday and delivered this plate:



The sad news is that Charlotte is no longer making desserts for the restaurant herself (I did not ask about her catering, so that may still be available). The good news is that she is sourcing her desserts from locally owned small bakeries. The baklava was very enjoyable - not too sweet or sticky - just right! The cake had thick buttercream and was crusted with crushed pistachios.

Other budget conscious, yet freshly prepared items available are the Angus Burger ($4.79), Chicken Burger ($5.29), which I blogged about in my earlier post, Salmon Burger ($4.99) and Veggie Burger ($4.99), which I sampled recently but didn't photograph. Light in taste and texture, the veggie burger is made in house and has no mushrooms (I don't care for mushrooms). A small selection of salads (which can be topped with any meat or veggie option) and sides are also available, as well as Soup of the Day.

We are enjoying playing with the food at Tastee Bites and recommend it for simple, healthy, fresh lunch or dinner eats.