Azar's Restaurant

RestaurantsSpokane

Azar's Restaurant cover

Azar's hits the "crap, we forgot about that place" list with a bullet, and that's too bad. It's a good Mediterranean/Middle Eastern/Greek/Turkish/anything-east-of-Italy spot, if you know what to order.

Their kufta kabob sandwiches, for example, are good. The ground beef is nicely spiced and mixed with a good tahini sauce. For those who are fans of the Döner kebab and its many regional European cousins, this is about as close to that as anything I've seen in Spokane. Part of what makes it work is the pita, both nice and fluffy. Not sure if they bake it themselves, but whoever makes them at least succeeded. The fries go well with the sandwich too.

Other items don't meet the same quality. The hummus, a staple in Middle Eastern cuisine, is just bland, reminiscent of the grocery store stuff some people are so fond of. So granted, this stuff might fly with those who don't know better, but I'm sure the 3 or 4 people reading this expect the good stuff, not fast-food hummus.

The baba ghanoush is a bit better, but not something to parade about. Again just a bit dull, lacking a fresh kick.

And so the list goes. Kind of eh gyros; good Greek salad. So on, so forth.

Azar's has its ups and downs but overall it's recommended, if only for the kufta kabobs. You can also get the pitas to go, which in some ways might be a good idea if you have a proper hummus recipe at home.