Mideast eateries invite us to linger, savor lighter fare

Published February 11, 2005 at midnight

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Some days, by the time I wrench myself away from the computer and surface for sustenance, it's half past lunch and nearing mid-afternoon. I'm not looking for a three-course repast, just a bite to eat.

At that point I need lighter, ostensibly healthful food in a quiet eatery where I can take over a big table and organize the lists that rule my life. It has to be a place where lingering and nibbling are not just tolerated but a way of life.

I've encountered two such welcoming spaces, one a 20-year destination for Middle Eastern fare in south Denver; the other is a new Wheat Ridge restaurant featuring Kurdish cuisine.

One variety of simple late lunch bliss is the vegetarian combo plate ($10.95) served at House of Kabob. First, I dip a bite of a crunchy falafel patty in the creamy hummus. Then I pop rice-stuffed grape leaves, slick with olive oil. Smoky baba ghanouj and refreshing parsley-heavy tabbouleh get scooped up with warm pita triangles. The leftovers mix nicely with chopped tomato, cuke and onion salad and steamed rice.

It's such engaging food that its meatless quality never crosses my mind until later when I'm looking at my lemon juice-stained notes. Another afternoon's joy was a gyros sandwich ($3.95) packed with sliced beef and lamb. I added tart cucumber with yogurt and strong garlic mayo.

When we returned for dinner and a discussion of current events, the restaurant was out of Middle Eastern beers and liqueurs. There was a new cook, so our waitress jumped into the kitchen to make fool mudammas ($4.95). I suffer this Lebanese bean salad gladly. The soft favas are elevated with the Arabic basics: garlic, onions, lemon juice, parsley and olive oil.

The most captivating dish was fesenjan ($9.95), a terrific boneless chicken stew simmered in a thick, slightly fruity sauce of ground walnuts and pomegranate juice. We were also happy with the signature shish kebab combo ($10.95) that brought us one skewer of sizzled lamb chunks and one strung with beef, onions and green peppers.

We're fans of properly flame-grilled fare: not burnt, not smoked, not barbecued, but lightly charred with plenty of high-temperature caramelization sealing in the juices. We sprinkled the meat and rice with tart ground red sumac.

The kebabs with rice and a cold Heineken fit the bill on a winter's night, followed by an unadorned diamond of baklava ($2.25) and an intense cup-let of classically muddy Lebanese coffee.

Aveen is a Kurdish word for love, and Aveen Exotic Cuisine is a genuine labor of love for owner Elan Dylaan. Hidden in a strip mall and modestly decorated, the three-month-old business looks more like a short-order diner than a restaurant introducing an unfamiliar - at least in Colorado - variation on Middle Eastern cookery.

Dylaan was a physician in the Kurdish area of Iran who brought his family to Colorado. He tells customers he opened Aveen to support his family and his effort to enter medical school in the United States, but he and his brother, Omid Dylaan, have a gift for creating appetizing fare centered on house-made lavaash flatbread.

Fresh lavaash is the very definition of "cracker thin." Tortillas seem dense and heavy by comparison. The "loaves" are served in two forms: toasted crisp and soft.

Pieces of the dry "loaves" are used as a scooping utensil like pita, including for Aveen soup ($2.99 cup; $5.50 bowl), a hearty meal-in-one potage of pinto and white beans, chickpeas, lentils, wheat noodles, onions and "particles of homemade sausage" garnished with minted yogurt.

Lavaash serves the same function for Kurdish salad ($1.99), a typical mix of cucumber, tomato, onion and green pepper in a simple, lemony dressing, and the hummus ($2.95) saturated with olive oil and sesame tahini.

For the baabola ($4.99), the flatbread is folded tortilla-like around basmati rice, beans and mildly seasoned grilled beef or chicken, but it's much lighter than a burrito.

The dough is used in crepe-like fashion for the yummy chicken baked roll ($4.99). Moist roasted chicken, green peppers and onion plus lots of mozzarella are wrapped and then baked. The lavaash stays soft and fork-cuttable.

Equally enjoyable if not exotic were the rolls filled with juicy ground lamb and beef kebab ($5.99) and sliced beef and lamb gyro ($5.99).

When I stopped for an early dinner, I got to try breani ($5.99), the Kurdish dish similar to the Indian rice dish biryani. It's a nutty, buttery and chewy Rice-A-Roni-like melding of broth-cooked basmati rice, roasted wheat noodles, walnuts and raisins with roasted chicken. I had it with iced tea because Aveen has no liquor license.

I'll come by again just for the baamia ($3.99 for 15). The unusual doughnut-hole-like treats deep-fried in corn oil and lightly coated in sugar honey syrup have an addictive quality, especially eaten with coffee. The other standout bakery items are the soft coconut cookies ($3.99 dozen).

We'd still like to try Aveen's pleasant-sounding spinach kookoo ($4.99), folding greenery fried with egg and walnuts into flatbread, but it and other dishes were unavailable when I dined, a typical situation for a tiny, family operation.

The service is unfailingly friendly and polite although often slow. One day I stopped in and Dylaan was the sole employee. His young daughter charmed visitors while daddy ran in back to cook.

Aveen Exotic Cuisine and House of Kabob each have discrete charms that compensate for their drawbacks. Both embody my idea of a neighborhood destination where one can relax with an affordable meal and think big thoughts about life.

John Lehndorff is the dining critic; lehndorffj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5103.

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