He Ate, She Ate

Sultan's delivers authentic Middle Eastern Dining experience

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Tongue tried

It’s safe to say you can’t fully appreciate a culture until you can appreciate its cuisine. My appreciation of Middle Eastern cuisine is a work in progress.

I’ve had some amazing Middle Eastern food. There were other times when my eyes grew wide as I mumbled, “What the hell IS this?” On the bell curve of Middle Eastern cuisine, I’d put Sultan’s somewhere in the middle, tipping favorably toward the region of “trying hard.”

Sultan’s has thrived for nearly 20 years, anchoring the Hannah Shopping Plaza east of Michigan State University. Service seems dependable, the setting is spacious and the service portions are generous.

When I asked a couple of people if they had eaten there, their first words were almost identical: “The bread.”

Indeed, the fresh pita — which looks nothing like the kind in the stores — hit the table almost immediately. These are warm, fresh, hockey puck-sized mounds with airy pockets inside to scoop up whatever is on your plate. Some online comments noted that Sultan’s regularly runs out of these fresh-baked goodies, and that was the case during one of our two dining visits.

The bread comes free with the meal, by the way.

The single tastiest thing I tried on either visit was the tabbouli, which came as part of my wife’s traditional combo meal ($12.90). This salad sparkles and shines on the palate.

You can taste parsley and fresh lemon, and feel the crunch of cracked wheat and raw, minced vegetables. Though the menu didn’t say it, I swear I tasted fresh mint. Fantastic.

Less fantastic was the lentil and rice soup, which was without form or substance, i.e., pureed and virtually without taste. Spice was needed, or a stronger dose of concentrated soup stock. To be fair, my brother and sister-in-law declared the soup to be very good.

The so-so soup foreshadowed much of my dining experience at Sultan’s. The stuffed grape leaves appetizer ($8.50 for eight) was competently prepared. I love grape leaves stuffed with lamb, rice and spices. I’ve eaten them dead cold and very warm. On two occasions, Sultan’s delivered them lukecold. To me, someone in the kitchen should make up his hot-or-cold mind.

The fried kibbie on my combo platter ($17.90) was over-fried, and the mixture of meat and grain inside the fried shell was dry and bland. Several meat selections on my platter were also overdone. Counter-balancing my complaint, our friend said his lamb was juicy and pink inside, as he ordered.

For my money, I’d order the hummus baba ($6.75) again, a bountiful platter of hummus and baba ghannouge encircling a small lagoon of good, extra-virgin olive oil. Dive in with the fresh pita in hand and you practically have a meal right there.

On the downside of the ledger, the spinach pie appetizer ($2.25) was boring, a far cry from the outstanding Greek version of spanikopita. The fried cauliflower ($3) was equally bland.

But in this season of Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men (with the exception of ISIS and Vladimir Putin), let me say my taste of the whole deboned chicken ($26.90, for two) was marinated meat perfection.

What meal would be complete without Judy, my wife of 26 years, ordering, as Monty Python would say, something completely different? I think this is a latent form of culinary exhibitionism. She would counter that this is totally about being open to the possibilities of the infinite culinary universe. Translation: If there’s something weird on the menu, she will order that.

And so it came to pass that Judy ordered lamb tongue ($10.90). Now, I cannot tell you what a lamb tongue still attached to the lamb looks like. What arrived on her plate were a whole bunch of pieces that could have been individual tongues, or one tongue carved into arrowhead-shaped pieces.

I immediately began making bad jokes about “The Silence of the Lambs.” Judy scowled. She took a bite and uttered a pleasant “mmmm.” OK, purely in the name of groundbreaking investigative journalism, I took a bite.

It was soft, subtle, mildly marinated and unbelievably tender. “Mmm,” I said. “Mmmmmmm!”

So there you have it. I am still a work in progress when it comes to exploring foods from around the world. I need to extend myself; be more adventurous when dining out. That will be my New Year’s resolution. More lamb tongues! Served with fava beans and a nice chianti, of course.

-Mark Nixon

Let the angels sing

Every time I sit down to a meal, I give my plate a onceover with a discerning eye. Is there enough color? Is my food too monochromatic? If it is, I’ll find the nearest green vegetable and load up. This resulted in some interesting solo dinners while the boyfriend was at deer camp — think entire bags of spinach topped with an egg or a pound of roasted Brussels sprouts. Go green!

For this reason, and for other reasons of deliciousness, Sultan’s is at the top of my list. There are two locations — Sultan’s Express in downtown Lansing and Sultan’s in the East Lansing Hannah Plaza, although all of the visits detailed here happened at the East Lansing location. The food at the downtown location is just as delicious, but the menu is limited and you’d better get there early because they tend to run out and you’ll have to go back to your office with a bag of Hot Cheetos or something equally awful.

My boyfriend and I went for dinner and chose the Sultan’s Combo for Two ($29.90) because we wanted to try absolutely everything on the menu. The massive platter didn’t disappoint, and I’ll explain what was on it piece by piece. Shish Kafta, which looks like sausage, is ground lamb mixed with parsley, onions and spices; beef and chicken kabobs are juicy morsels of grilled meat (more on this soon); chicken shawarma (an easy place to start, for new Middle Eastern eaters) is marinated, slow-cooked chicken, thinly sliced and generally serve atop white rice threaded with chopped vermicelli noodles. The rice is buttery but not too strongly flavored, and is intended to be a counter to the rich meats and flavorful sauces.

We were also were given two fried kibbes — croquettes of ground lamb mixed with cracked wheat and minced onions — and two falafels, fried, palm-sized discs of ground chickpeas. Finally, around the edges of the masterpiece were two stuffed grape leaves. Against my wishes, my boyfriend chose rice over vegetables as the base of our platter — I would never choose anything over my beloved vegetables — but I was thrilled to see that the waiter must have read my mind, because he also brought us grilled zucchini, red and green bell peppers and onions.

The chicken kabob — let the angels sing. The chicken kabob is the juiciest chicken I’ve ever had in my life. When you read on the menu “charbroiled to perfection,” it’s easy to think “Right. Just like Burger King’s Whoppers are charbroiled to perfection.” In this case, however, the description is warranted. You think this can’t be possible, it’s just grilled chicken! Eaters, I know. I was there too. But the chicken kabob at Sultan’s made a believer out of me.

Our two cups of lentil soup were also delicious; hot, comforting, and creamy enough to prompt me to ask the waiter if it was made of pureed potatoes. No, he said, just lentils, rice, onion, and spices.

I started with a cup of lentil soup when I returned for lunch the next day. I generally try to limit my red meat intake, so I chose the Mujadara Combo ($7.70.) Mujadara is one of those Middle Eastern dishes that really made me feel like a worldly grownup lady. This couldn’t be more ridiculous, because mujadara is a remarkably earthy, traditional dish. It is lentils, onions and cracked wheat served with garlic and tahini sauce. My combo came with hummus, a few vegetables and a heaping side of tabbouli, another of my favorites — and extremely healthy to boot. It’s a salad made of chopped parsley, tomatoes, onion and cracked wheat served in a bracing lemon juice dressing. Between the mujadara, tabbouli and lentil soup, I think my quotas for both vegetables and whole grains were met for the remainder of the year.

When we went back for one more lunch, I know I should have ordered something different — the lamb shank, the salmon or even the stewed okra — but I couldn’t help myself. I went running back to the chicken kabob. It was just as heavenly as the first time.

We did mix it up a bit and ordered the Fool Modammas as an appetizer. My last goal for 2014 was accomplished and I ate something I’ve never had before. Fava beans were mixed with tomatoes, onions, parsley and spices including smoked paprika. We treated it as a kind of dip, scooping it up with pita bread and wondering if it wasn’t these little beans that Hannibal Lecter liked so much.

We liked them too, and we will head back to Sultan’s frequently for the best Middle Eastern food in town.

 -Gabrielle Johnson

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