Arais
Arias is formally a Lebanese dish but one that is adopted by many Latin lovers of meat. It takes 210 grams of chopped meat of different varieties loaded with spices and herbs, and places them in a triangular pita-pocket and bakes them in a large brick oven for about 12 minutes. The pita comes out toasty and meat, inside cooks and – voila – you have an Arais – (pronounced araya).
This location, a corner notch on Agrippas street in the Machane Yehuda Market, is great for a quick bite, a simple lunch or a late night, post-concert snack.
The menu is short and simple. Entrecôte, lamb, beef or vegetarian. They also make baked, seasoned potatoes. Each Arais comes in a rectangular box with two types of tahini, Chimichurri sauce and a scrumptious tomato salad and topped off with the reeds of scallions, reminiscent of Sefardim at the Passover Seder. Do not be fooled. Each Arais is chopped. It is not steak, rather that cut of steak chopped for the pita.
The food was quite good, but it reminded me too much of Ishtabach, which is just a 7-iron away from this location. Another place where meats are put in a special pocketed dough and cooked in a brick oven. The tastes are distinguishable, but not by so much.
The kids working there reminded me of teenagers back in the States who would scoop ice cream during summer break. They would rather be just about anywhere else and have already spent the few shekels they earned filling pitas.
It is a nice place for a stop and a bite. It is not a must try. Still, worthy of a late night snack or a mid day bite.
