Iraqi House Restaurant

IRAQ 🇮🇶

Hints of a new Iraqi restaurant at this location started showing up way back in April as plans began to be posted. The main blue and yellow sign above was up by the end of May, but the gate remained stubbornly closed until just last week when all the paperwork was in order and the city finally came through with their visits. New York City now gets to enjoy the cuisine of Iraq, the latest nation to have its own exclusive restaurant.

The owner Mohammed is currently in charge of the entire operation, getting some help from family in the kitchen while he searches for a chef. He admits that the cuisine is very difficult to cook so finding the right fit will be hard, although he does not seem to mind doing the extra work himself for now.

Buraq ($4.99 for 3): an Iraqi-style spring roll.

The sign also makes the bold claim of "A Taste You Love," not speaking of the future when your mind will be changed but confident that the love already exists.

A trip to Paterson, NJ and the home of the area's only other Iraqi restaurant last year is plenty to convince you that love is imminent either way.

Kubba ($4.99 for 3): ground meat and onions within a fried rice crust.

Mohammed plans to expand the menu over time as the kitchen settles into a rhythm, but for now grab a group so that you can order a full complement of starters and appetizers. The two crispy nibbles above and two dips below were all great to start whetting the appetite and cure the hunger pangs.

For now the dips arrived with simple pitas, but the restaurant does plan on bringing in Iraqi bread as soon as possible.

Hummus ($5.99): spiked with a bit of paprika.

Jajick ($5.99): Yogurt dip with cucumber, garlic, and mint.

On weekends, Iraqi House Restaurant serves dolma ($13.99, below) which should not be skipped. Ground lamb, spiced rice, and garlic are halfway stuffed into large grape vine leaves.

Bamia ($13.99): Okra stew cooked with tomatoes and lamb.

Mohammed is obviously inspired by the fast food culture of the country he was born in as well, and has added a couple interesting items to the menu including an Iraqi burger, which was not yet sampled and the Iraqi wings ($9.50 for 5, below) which come served with a side of fries and soda.

The wings are described as being covered with their signature sauce, which is reminiscent of a spicy sweet and sour coating you might find on wok-fried chicken from a Chinese takeout. Now they just need a TV to show the big game.

As the main entrees start rolling out, the beautiful basmati rice used here becomes the focus. A touch of turmeric is used and creates the slight yellow color, while the rice is infused by bay leaves and cardamom. It made for a very nice base in each case.

Qoozi (more often Quzi) is a dish found in Iraq and its Arab neighbors around the Persian Gulf by different names, cooked in a few different styles that all require long preparation times and result in extremely tender meats. The qoozi lamb ($18.99, below) will probably be the focal point of many group meals here, and highest on the list of recommendations from the chef. In addition to lamb that practically melts away in your mouth, the fragrant rice is covered with small chopped noodles, yellow raisins, peas, and nuts, which all combine to create a slightly sweet blanket to wrap the savory dish.

The dishes are as if your grandmother made them, somehow the tastes feel like home.

For a little variety in an otherwise lamb-heavy meal, the qoozi chicken ($14.99, below) is presented in a similar manner. The leg and thigh have a delicious rub and the skin is slightly crispy by what appears to be a pan fry. Again the sweetness of the raisins and nuts creates wonderful warming tastes.

It would be a shame to have a meal without makhlama ($11.99, below), usually an Iraqi breakfast specialty, but opening hours here in Bay Ridge prohibit that. This does not necessarily need to be served with meat, but the version here cooks the requisite eggs together with lamb, the resulting concoction served over another bed of the basmati rice.

Versions of this can vary from extremely saucy pans that are drowned in tomato sauce or can be dry like this one, with the sauces and spices cooked down into the blend.

As with many Middle Eastern menus, there are also kababs available, but this group of six had reached its limit for one dinner. Follow up your meal with a cup of strong Iraqi tea ($2.50, not shown), meant for after the feast to help things settle.

If the menu does expand as promised, return visits to try the new items (and the burger) will be highly anticipated and of course updated here when they happen. Pay a visit to Chef Mohammed in the meantime and experience something very special.

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BAY RIDGE Brooklyn
7215 3rd Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Al-Mazaq Restaurant & Bakery

IRAQ 🇮🇶

On the first evening of Ramadan, when fasting is not yet required during the day, our arrival before sundown was greeted with respite from a day that had just seen the strongest storm of the year to date. The skies were doing their best to let a few rays of sunshine though and the colors of sunset battled on the horizon with darkness.

Main Street in Paterson, NJ is well known for Middle Eastern people, restaurants, groceries, bakeries, and hookah bars. At some point we had made it one block over to Getty Avenue for a Peruvian food truck, but this was our first venture to East Railway Avenue, just south of I-80 and the distinct border between this and the Latin American parts of Paterson.

In this more industrial-feeling portion of Passaic County, a new Iraqi bakery and restaurant has bloomed about four months ago, and initial impressions are superb. Humidity was still high, and preparations with a movable air conditioning unit were being made in anticipation of a healthy evening crowd. The small space is home to good spirit, stacks of Iraqi flatbread, a self-serve coffee station, and plenty of seats for customers wanting to eat inside. Even the clients taking out their food got involved in the chat with others sitting down while they were waiting. The TV is tuned to MBC, the Middle East Broadcasting Center, and news and gossip seem to share top billing in conversations.

For $4.99, tea service comes on a golden plate, with scenes from the former Ishtar Gate of Babylon. Even if you do not like tea, the money is well spent in the opportunity to enjoy the detail. As usual, this Middle Eastern tea is strong and bitter, and works well with a healthy portion of sugar.

While drinking and waiting for food, enjoy some of the art and photography that adorns the walls. When one customer saw me doing just this, he told me the story of "Factory Square," which was prominent in a couple of the photos. He related the struggles there to those relating to Martin Luther King, Jr. here, but unfortunately something in the translation did not quite go perfectly, as I was unable to find more information on these terms.

The meal began with kibbeh ($4.99, above), which in Iraq, unlike the versions with bulghur in parts of the Levant, the ground meat is surrounded with a rice crust.

Advertised on the website as "Iraqi kebab," and a good portion of the reason we came in the first place, the lamb kebab ($13.99, below) is a platter of three ground lamb shish kebabs served inside of their special Iraqi bread and alongside plates of homemade pickles and salad.

Opening up the remarkable and unique bread is almost a ceremony, where you expect heavenly sounds to emerge. The ingredients inside are lovely and colorful. This kebab is delicious, a show-stopper, and should not be missed. No sauces are served, and none are needed. Grab pieces of bread and meat together and enjoy. The side dishes are sharp with freshness and sour vinegars, perfect respite from the fatty oily meats.

It was so delicious that we ordered a mixed grill platter ($19.99, not pictured) to go, which included one of these, two chicken, and a lamb tikka kebab. It made an excellent lunch for the next day.

A bowl of bamia ($4.99, below) was also part of the feast, a sour okra stew. In Iraq, sour tomatoes are used in the preparation, but these are unavailable in the states so the taste is best replicated with dried lemon powder. Sometimes this stew can include meat, but this version was vegetarian.

By the time we finished, we were not ready to leave. Surrounded by friendliness and hospitality, this felt like a place we had been coming for a good portion of life. Questions from the proprietor and employees kept asking us if everything was ok and how we had found the new restaurant in the first place. If we ever had a question, a long answer was given to more than satisfy our curiosities.

When I went to look at framed money on the wall, expecting it to be all from Iraq, another customer quizzed me if I could pick out the two notes that were actually from there. Of course it was necessary for him to point them out, as most of the notes were Arabic-only. With our takeout order ready, we said our goodbyes and wished them luck. With Ramadan, business would be shifted later in the evening, but if you have the chance to visit during these times, it should be quite special.

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PATERSON New Jersey

46 East Railway Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Eat Offbeat

IRAQ 🇮🇶

In its first couple years of existence, the Queens International Night Market had less sway on these pages than it should have. Usually the festivals visited are country-specific and vendors are reached in their natural environment. New York City has a way of making its similar gatherings into massive, over-populated events. But this market has consistently made the right decisions and continues to be an essential experience for quite a few cuisines that are underrepresented in the city or have none at all.

When relative newcomer Eat Offbeat announced that they would be a vendor, plans needed to be made fast. This company's plan is about hiring chefs that are refugees in the United States from various countries and giving them the opportunity to cook the foods they love for others here that might not have tried them. Their chefs currently hail from Syria, Eritrea, Nepal, and Iraq.

The only problem (for individuals, not office folk) is that until Saturday, the food was only available as a catering menu that required large orders. Since New York City no longer has an Iraqi restaurant (although check this one out in Paterson, NJ), it was decided a market night was in order to try out the food and support what seems to be a great organization.

Like most orders at the market, one tray of three small potato kibbeh costs $5. They are served plain and leave the meat and internal spices to do the talking. The thin layer of potato mash wraps the beef and is lightly deep fried.

At least three of the chefs were there helping, but only two dishes were available. In addition to the Iraqi croquettes, a Nepalese dish called Manchurian ($5, below) was also being served. Colorful peppers and onion top a deep red cauliflower that is also fried in a mild sauce, and it is served over an unseen bed of basmati rice.

It was their first night at the market, and first time in public as far as could be told. The sweltering evening with "real feel" temperatures hovering around a hellish 45 degrees made their job all the more tough. It was obvious that everyone involved in the operation was kind though as the company's co-founder was introducing them all to each patron.

Best of luck to Eat Offbeat, check out their website and cater your next event with something new.

As portions are small at the market, there were a couple extra dishes ordered from other stands, which are included below.

Deep fried fish skin, HK Street Food

Ceviche, Inti Sumaq Peruvian Cuisine

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FLUSHING Queens

Queens Int'l Night Market

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