Takeout: Baba's Mediterranean Kitchen

Baba's Mediterranean Kitchen

745 E. Fort Ave.; 410-727-7482; open 11:30 a.m-2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, 10-a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday brunch

Baba's Mediterranean Kitchen had only been open about a week when I visited, but already it was drawing crowds. The night I was there two weeks ago, the line of customers waiting for carryout meals spilled out of the doorway and onto Fort Avenue. Apparently, word of a new eatery travels as fast in this Locust Point neighborhood as the runners who sprint down the sidewalk, ear buds in place, on their evening gallops to Fort McHenry.

Behind the counter, owner Farid Bishara Salloum, his mother, Claire, his sister Rose and other members of a smiling if somewhat chaotic kitchen crew delivered distinctive Middle Eastern fare at prices that range from $4 to $9.

A tray crashed to the floor while I was there, but there were no recriminations, just smiles. This is family, and the food, according to Salloum, reflects the family's ancestral roots in Palestine.

I had a chicken kebab wrapped in pita. The chicken cubes were tender; they were bathed in a pungent tahini sauce and dotted with bits of tomato. The pita bread had flavor. It was quite a mouthful for $6.

A newspaper colleague who once was posted in the Middle East called Baba's hummus the best in Baltimore. I will leave the hummus rankings to the mashed chickpea masses, but this version is very good. I had it as part of a mezza medley, a serving that offered samples of stuffed grape leaves, falafel, olives and spanakopita. The spanakopita, spinach and feta cheese in a phyllo dough, was my favorite. At $6, this medley of savory small bites was a bargain.

The $7 quinoa tabouleh salad was flecked with mint and chopped parsley and had a pleasing grainy texture. Topped with a dressing of olive oil and lemon, this salad was strikingly green and refreshing.

The sesame cookies, $4, were crisp and sweet without being cloying. The $3 baklava was outstanding.

Family members got a taste for restaurant life, Salloum said, years ago when they worked at a cafe operated by their father in Syracuse, N.Y. Baba's is named in honor of their father, a man who believed that hospitality mattered, Salloum said.

The place is small and clamorous. Service was friendly but feeling its way toward efficiency. My takeout order, for instance, sat on the counter for a few minutes before I realized it was mine and claimed it. Yet, overall, the Middle Eastern fare and the feel of Baba's were warm and welcoming.

baba's

Best bite: Chicken kebab, $6

Best bargain: Medley of dolmas, falafel, hummus, olives and spanakopita, $6

Also tasted: Quinoa tabouleh salad, $7; sesame cookies, $4; baklava, $3