{"id":21071,"date":"2025-08-24T11:53:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T15:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=21071"},"modified":"2025-08-26T07:58:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T11:58:23","slug":"al-sham-from-the-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=21071","title":{"rendered":"Al-Sham from the Inside"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)<\/em>
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\n\u201cThe Levant\u201d is a term that refers to the region in the Middle East encompassing Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey. \u201cLittle Levant\u201d is a term I use to describe the region in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn that encompasses numerous first-rate restaurants, markets, and shops featuring the wares of the Levant with the addition of a nod to those of Greece. (Did you know that Beirut and Bay Ridge are cognates? Just kidding.)<\/p>\n

One of the stops on my \u201cFlavors of Little Levant\u201d ethnojunket<\/a> is Al-Sham restaurant, always rated at the top of every relevant list I\u2019ve seen, where we pick up a shawarma sandwich to go. The Arabic word \u201cshawarma\u201d has its roots in the Turkish word \u201c\u00e7evirme,\u201d turning, which describes the pirouetting conically-stacked slabs of marinated meat as they inch past the searing glow of the vertical rotisserie.<\/p>\n

Al-Sham boasts two of those rotating devices, one for chicken and the other for beef & lamb; the extremely helpful and absolutely delightful woman behind the counter advised me that the beef & lamb always sells out first.<\/p>\n

I replied, \u201cOkay! One beef & lamb shawarma, please.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cTo go or to stay?\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought I could use a break so I responded, \u201cTo stay,\u201d and we took seats at a nearby booth.<\/p>\n

BUT. I had neglected to utter one important word: \u201csandwich.\u201d A fortuitous gaffe if ever there was one because they presented the photo-worthy shawarma entr\u00e9e you see here. <\/p>\n

Needless to say, the Little Levant itinerary has been permanently modified!
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\nStay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! \u2764
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\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To go or to stay \u2013 that is the question. Read on…. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[91],"class_list":["post-21071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-restaurants-food-courts","tag-middle-eastern"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21071"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21081,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21071\/revisions\/21081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}