Maha Falafil (West Side Market)
 Cleveland, Ohio        Date of Visit  06/25/11          No Known Website

We had been to the West Side Market before and sampled our way through a great many stalls, but we had foregone the lines at the ready to eat stalls, particularly the lengthy line at Steve’s Gyro. I hit the vendor site and we found a couple of places to try after we waited out the line at Steve's and Maha sounded really interesting. Apparently they were awarded Cleveland's Best Hummus at some point recently so I was excited to give it a go.
 

Don't Miss This Thing
 

I ordered a falafil wrap which included a smear of hummus, a few squirts of siracha hot sauce, tahini sauce lettuce, onions and tomatoes with falafil  wrapped in a warm pita. Falafil are fried dumplings of chickpea flour with spices and they are stupendous at Maha. Both Steph and Janet looked at the whole thing a little cross-eyed until they took their first bite. This is a definite rival to the gyro at Steve's and completely blew Frank's Bratwurst out of the water.

Vegetarian seldom tastes this good and well rounded with great crunch, notes of garlic and parsley, fresh veggies and a warm wrapper, it didn't take long to crush the wrap between the three of us. For all of the folks who have only waited in line at Steve's, you have no idea what you are missing and Maha Falafil is the perfect example of the many fabulous treats awaiting in almost every nook and cranny of the market.

I also ordered a couple of pies, the spinach and the meat. The spinach was not bad, loads of stewed spinachiness but the vinegary punch was a bit much for all of us. The meat pie was a whole other story. Filled with the unique Middle Eastern Spice blend including things like cinnamon, maybe sumac gives the meat a savoriness that you can only find in this particular cuisine. I look forward to another visit here every bit as much as Steve's.

If you have seen what we managed to pick up on our first official journey to the West Side Market and the raves they received for the fruits, sweets, jerky, meats, etc., you might wonder if we got anything else. The pictures below ought to answer that question.