King Garlic

Son Brian and DIL Nicole were coming into town last night, and we were trying to figure out a place to go for dinner.  We thought we had it figured out, but then I got an email from Saleem's West restaurant that reminded me they were in the middle of a special event, their 27th annual Garlic Festival.  This weekend they were offering a special price on a kabob combo plate dinner and all you could eat roasted garlic heads.  Suddenly we had our dinner plans finalized!

When I dined at Saleem's West by myself last year it was so good I was sure I'd be back there soon.  That was almost a year ago. Where did the time go?  The restaurant is tucked away in a corner of a strip mall on Manchester Road in Winchester.  When you walk in, the Middle Eastern music, dark walls, and exotic decorations make you feel like you're suddenly far away.  The four of us were escorted to a table in the back.  I sat against the wall where I could see the entire room.

This weekend they were only serving the kabob special and appetizers. We ordered some hummus and a Greek salad, and the waitress said she'd also bring four heads of garlic.  I've roasted garlic heads and extracted the cloves to use in recipes, but I don't remember ever eating garlic just for the sake of it. It's easy to do, though; you use a knife or your fingers to squeeze the cloves out of their skins. You can eat as is or spread it on pita bread.  We quickly ate our four heads and ordered a couple more before our dinners arrived.

By the time I'd eaten my dinner (one beef kabob, one chicken kabob, and rice) I was quite full.  Evidently everyone else agreed, because no one wanted to order dessert.  The waitress said that's what usually happened.  We paid the bill, and exited the restaurant.  The scent of garlic followed us.