Some of the best fare is presented modestly, much of it along Warren Avenue. Naba Bakery’s storefront may be unmarked, but even if it’s been open only eight months, word must be out. A steady stream of customers courses in and out. The interior is as unadorned as the exterior, decorated only with Iraqi flags. But that doesn’t matter, because the brick oven at the shop’s rear is both a hub of activity and the conduit for about the tastiest pita bread you may ever try.
Iraqi pita is thicker and shaped like a stretched isosceles triangle. Where the falafel here may be good, if typical, the mango sauce (amba) is tangy, sweet, gorgeously bright, and keeps the dense taste of fried chickpeas from overwhelming the whole. It would be hard to find a better $2 sandwich anywhere.
Equally nondescript, but also staffed by ardent, infectiously friendly cooks, is Golden Chicken, a bit farther down Warren. A rotisserie twirls in the smudged window. Three varieties of rice are on offer. When I try to decide on one to accompany my stuffed zucchini, the counterman offers a healthy ladle of each — enough of a sample for lunch, dinner, and maybe lunch the next day. A garlic sauce worth the trip accompanies mahogany-roasted chicken and french fries. Each establishment’s recipe is a well-guarded secret.
This same garlic sauce — akin to a garlic mayonnaise or aioli — accompanies platters of phenomenal grilled quail at higher-end restaurants. “Higher-end’’ in Dearborn, by the way, translates to a $60 tab for a feast for four. Quail at Al-Ajami Restaurant are marinated in lemon juice and garlic and spatchcocked (butterflied), thus presenting wide crispy swaths of this small bird’s tender flesh. The Al-Ajami Family Tray, which includes lamb chops, fried shrimp, shish tawook (grilled chicken kebab), and the quail, is accompanied by platters of fresh vegetables and fattoush salad laced with fried pita chips, a sort of Middle Eastern crouton.
