Bedouin Tent

We arrived at Bedouin Tent, on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, to a line of folks waiting for takeaway pitas. We were led down an aisle, alongside the crowded kitchen, past a dark dining room, and into a bright garden in back. We ordered mint tea (unsweetened and therefore surprisingly bitter) and loomi (citrus-flavored and thick), to wash down the zataar, a very dry toasted pita topped with garlic. We tipped our heads to the sun, enjoying the slightest bit of breeze and listening to small birds playing in the fountains that lined the garden's back wall.

When the food came, we tipped our heads down, reverent and prayerful, and stayed that way until there was nothing left on the plates. The sandwich's mergeuz was spicy and loose and huge. But it was the chicken ouzi, a special, that has had us re-imaging this unassuming Middle Eastern restaurant as an oasis ever since. Tearing the philo pastry revealed bits of chicken, rice, raisins, almonds, peas, and a caravan's worth of spices, including cinnamon, cumin, and nutmeg, a soothing, homestyle menagerie our weary souls didn't even know they needed.