The Middle East and its cuisine seem quite distant from Mexico, yet not only do a surprising number of Middle Eastern restaurants seem to pop up around Guadalajara but there are also some strong cultural connections.
I recently “discovered” Al Malek, located very near the Minerva glorieta, because it was the site of a farewell get-together involving people who hail from places a lot nearer “the Levant” than the United States. (The term might just be a fancy way to say the Middle East but it focuses on the geographic, historical and cultural centricity of Lebanon.)
Al Malek is near my dining companions’ homes, inexpensive and authentic – making it one of their favorite spots. Who was I to poo-poo a restaurant simply because it is small, lit like a dentist’s office, and located uncomfortably near the streaming traffic of Avenida Lopez Mateos? A pescatarian in the group, who happens to have grown up in a country in the near orbit of the Levant, had long ago given this restaurant his imprimatur.
I gamely ordered “El Surtido Especial Almalek” (the combination platter) and almost gasped when it arrived, mostly because of its size but also because of the speed at which the roughly ten labor-intensive items had materialized. So taken was I with eating – and appreciatively savoring – the stuffed grape leaves, stuffed zucchini, tabouli, yogurt dip and hummus and munching the tahini dip and pita that my companions had ordered for the table, that I didn’t have room for the main attraction, a hefty shawarma (shaved, spiced meat in pita; more on that later), which, since it was already wrapped in tin foil, was easy to take home.
I gave away some little balls and pies to my meatless friend, mostly because I avoid food fried in questionable oils. But everything I had at Al Malek had a fresh, authentic flavor in which I could detect good olive oil.
Now let’s get to the shawarma and the cultural connections. Shawarma, so typical of the Levant, is made with different meat and called by different names throughout the area – made with turkey in Israel; called gyros in Greece – but is always an amalgam of spiced meat that is grilled while rotating on a spit. So when I noticed the Mexican customers thronging La Malek’s four-table dining room, I realized that, besides being cheap, the restaurant is praised for its shawarma because it is so similar to tacos al pastor. In fact, this variety of taco, grilled on a rotating spit, is not only similar, it is directly related to shawarma, either by way of the considerable Arabic influence on Spain or by the immigration of Middle Easterners to Mexico. (After all, Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim, has Middle Eastern roots.)
The owners of Al Malek are said to operate a popular “Tacos Arabes” stand somewhere in the vicinity, which is normally open late at night. Just so, even though it opens at 1 p.m., Al Malek is considered a late-night spot, where you can get a Turkish coffee, which some people will die for, and Pay de Datil (date cake) or other pastry late at night after bar hopping.
Al Malek, Avenida Lopez Mateos Sur 152, two blocks from the Minerva glorieta and the Fiesta Americana Hotel. (33) 2261-5019. Open 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. Closed Sundays.