LaShish - a restaurant review
If I had to choose a favorite food, I would most definitely choose Mediterranean. It’s healthy, It’s fresh, and it usually has baklava. I am almost always on the quest to find great Mediterranean places and I happen to have found one.
LaShish is a little hole in the wall in Allen, Texas (address below) serving your typical fare: gyros, dolmas, hummus, etc. Mediterranean is both simple to make and difficult to execute. You are dealing with light, fresh flavors and it is easy to overpower a dish with one ingredient.
I started with babganouge. Hummus is easier to make taste good. Babganouge is made from eggplant and is a much trickier beast. If you don’t roast it long enough, it’s slimy, too much, and it’s dry. The skin of an eggplant can make it taste bitter and (little known fact) there are male and female varieties. Males are the best to cook with. This dish should be creamy enough to dip pita in and not have large chunks. The large chunks of baba is like eating a phlegm ball... or boba tea (same difference) The egg plant at LaShish was incredible. Lightly salted, great balance of tahini and egg plant and it wasn’t swimming in olive oil.
Next I ordered a chicken shawarma. Shawarma is like a gyro only with potatoes in it. Shawarmas should be focused on the meat with the accompanying vegetables and sauces adding layers to the flavor. Most places give you tons of pita, lots of filling and then they dump an olympic sized helping of tsaziki sauce all over it. This shawarma was perfection. The chicken was seasoned well and not overly salted. The potatoes were in good proportion to the meat and the veggies used were crisp and added a great texture. The pita.... I was in love. The pita was amazing. Hand made, hand tossed, thin, and grilled just right with all the stuff inside. The accompanying salad was also amazing. Get this: you could taste the salad! I know, right? The dressing was an oil with herb salad so if you are a citrus fan, you may not like it but I was very happy with how fresh it was and also how much you could taste the tomatoes. It’s the simple pleasers, folks.
Now, I must tell you about the baklava. I will be going back just to eat the baklava. The filling was divine: Pistachio based and made with honey, not rose water. It had a caramel drizzle over the top that was just the right touch of salty/sweet. The restaurant was small so I hope the other patrons didn’t mind my awkward noises I made while eating the baklava.
My only complaint about the place is that there is no signage as you walk in to let you know if you should seat yourself or walk up to a counter. The layout could support both order then sit or sit and order. The owner is super nice and helped me out so I’ll only take a half point off for this.
Great service, great food, great baklava. No signs but with only 12 tables, it’s not too hard.
I give LaShish a 9.5 out of 10. Get to Allen and eat here.
600 E. Main St A, Allen TX 75002
Happy Eating, y’all
