text: 8/20\nThis grocery-slash-eatery reminds me more of Cafe Istanbul in terms of its lighter traffic than that of Haji-Baba's eatery and market.  Some of the items on the shelves had a light blanket of dust...\nOrdered the beef kabob (2 pcs.) platter, with lettuce, onions, hummus, and two pitas.  The kabobs were tasty, even though they were slightly overdone in temperature.  Liked the pitas, disliked the hummus.  I couldn't taste any flavors from the chickpeas, tahini, or spices.  Just that of an oil I couldn't even place its origin.  As I was finishing up the kabobs and pita, I spied two young men enjoying their beef shawarmas, so I ordered one to-go.  Got into my car and couldn't wait to have a bite...  I should've gone with my first choice (of beef shawarma)- this was a very tasty selection.  I'd come back to order it again.\n\nI also enjoyed a Lebanese baked dessert, almost cake-like, with two distinct layers- slightly sweet cheese, reminiscent of dried-out ricotta and cream cheese, on the bottom and golden-orange wheat (semolina?), topped with crushed pistachios.  A side sauce dish of simple syrup accompanied the dessert.  I had asked the woman behind the counter two times what the dish was called, and she didn't sound too confident in telling me that she knew it as \"shmeer.\"  (It's the closest thing I could decipher.  Perhaps \"shmeed\" might be a better word... can anyone help me?)  The ff. is the closest image I found to what I think I had.  (If so, then my dessert was missing the ashtar topping, a type of clotted cream, pictured below.)  The dessert I bought doesn't even come close to approaching the wow factor of this link's image... Kanefe/Knefeh.\n\nhttp://grabyourfork.blogspot.com/2007/08/rabeih-sweets-punchbowl.html