Restaurants

Ali Baba is one of Dallas' best bargains for excellent Middle Eastern food, despite a cramped location with odd hours. We especially like the golden chicken, a half-chicken baked on a rotisserie and crisped under a broiler. Boston Market take note: Whatever they do at Ali Baba, this is how you're supposed to make rotisserie chicken. The flesh is fork-tender and moist, not mushy, and the skin is as crisp and savory as Peking duck, with no gobs of yellow fat marring the underside. That's a lot of chicken, and it also comes with very fresh pita bread and "garlic sauce," which is a dollop of extremely pungent garlic mashed potatoes. Also good is the shish tawook, marinated chicken cubes with rice pilaf, and the mazza plate, which includes hummus, egg plant dip, tabouli, dolmas, pickles and olives. The mashwi shish, marinated cubes of beef or lamb with rice pilaf, wasn't quite up to the standard of the chicken entrées and had an overpowering grill flavor. Ali Baba also lists several vegetarian appetizers that could easily serve as entrées. Service is a bit spotty, and you might have trouble getting a table at lunch.

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