Veritasty: Truthfully Delicious

If you're jonesing for some Middle Eastern food but can't make it to your usual market in Beirut or Damascus or something, we've found an amazing alternative, right here in my lovely borough of Brooklyn.  On Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, there is a delightful market called Sahadi's that could just save you a trip halfway around the world. Sahadi's is branded as a Middle Eastern market, but I could probably happily shop there for most of the other food in my diet anyway. When you first walk in, there are plexiglas boxes upon boxes of goods that the very friendly and helpful staff will pack up for you in bags.  Spices, nuts, dried fruit, candy, grains, herbs, beans...it's all a melange of different textures and colors and aromas.  Just behind this little fort, there is a salad bar arrangement of all types of olives, bobbing up and down in their brines -  the best one to put in a martini, olives stuffed with feta, olives stuffed with garlic. The feta and ...

My first adventure to Brighton Beach!  I've known Brighton Beach to be a Russian neighborhood - and we certainly saw Russian establishments in the area - but as we discovered, there is also a large Turkish population in the southern tip of Brooklyn.  I have only had good Turkish food (in fact, I sort of believe you can't go wrong with Turkish food) and our trip to a small kebab place called Beyti confirmed my theory. Beyti definitely looks like a local favorite.  The sweet smell of roasting meat hits you when you first walk in.  The people working there probably don't speak the best English.  People were walking in shirtless from the nearby beach and boardwalk.  Sanitary?  Probably not.  But gladly it didn't take away from the food. We shared a large mixed appetizer platter and a mixed meat entree.  The mixed appetizer platter was great: a big dollop each of a mint yogurt sauce (think tzatziki), hummus, babaghanoush, chopped eggplant,...