Rockin' the Casbah

I've already done an official Bluff City Vegan Eats post about Casablanca, a Moroccan/Middle Eastern restaurant. But that post was from 2011 when Casablanca only had one location on Poplar in East Memphis. Now there is a second location in Cordova on Germantown Parkway, and it recently changed its name to Casbah to distinguish itself from its sister restaurant. Same menu, same owners, different name. (Yes, I know The Clash are stuck in your head now. You're welcome.).

For those who don't live here, Cordova is way out in the 'burbs, so I don't get out there often. To a Midtowner like me, Cordova seems to be all strip malls and chain restaurants, and about the only thing that drags me out that way are the handful of friends I have who live there. One of those is my friend Cindy. We haven't seen one another in a bit, and Cindy eats meat (and she can be a bit of a picky eater). But the one thing we both love is Middle Eastern fare.

So we met for dinner at Casbah last night. It was my first time checking out the Cordova location. As most things in Cordova are, it's located in a strip mall. But inside, you're transported to another land. The decor is much fancier here than in the older East Memphis location.

As for the food, it's all the same! Cindy ordered their locally famous ginger-sage tea. It's supposed to be the bee's knees. But I'm just not a tea girl, so I opted for Turkish coffee. Few things in the world can top coffee with cardamom. Or anything with cardamom, really.

I typically order the falafel sandwich (called the Big Mac of the East) at the other place, so I decided to try something different — the Vegetarian Platter.

Now, this typically comes with spanakopita, but that contains cheese. So I asked to leave that off and sub with extra falafel. On the plate are lots of falafel, stuffed grape leaves with carrots and squash, and hummus. A basket of pita was served on the side.

They have AMAZING falafel! I won't say it's the best in town. That honor would go to Al-Rayan. But it's close. I'd put it in second place. Definitely the best falafel that side of East Parkway. My only complaint was there simply wasn't enough hummus. I like to dip my falafel and my pita in hummus, and there were only about two tablespoons here. Luckily, Cindy shared her Baba Ganoush. Casbah definitely wins the award for best baba ganoush in Memphis. Hands down.

Here's an old pic of Baba Ganoush from a visit to their other location. I forgot to take one last night.

Note to self: Next time I order the Vegetarian Platter, order a side of this!

I'm adding the address for Casbah to the Casablanca entry in my Memphis Vegan Dining Guide, but in case you wanna know now, it's 1890 N. Germantown Pkwy.