Best New Restaurants: No. 12 - Shawarma King

Editor's Note: Shawarma King has closed

You don’t go to places like this for high-end service and ambiance, you go because the food is good. Like, really good. And affordable. Shawarma King’s plentiful lunch veggie platter, for instance, offers hummus, baba ghanoush, falafel, tabbouleh and pita for $8.99.

Owner Mohammed Alsalem, who grew up in Jordan, makes almost all the food himself. The falafel is crispy and fluffy, the baba ghanoush had a subtle smokiness, and the hummus is ultra-smooth and fresh. The tabbouleh is a must-have – its bright acidity is a nice complement to the menu’s richer items, particularly the tender, deeply flavorful beef shawarma, which Alsalem stacks and seasons by hand. Who cares if it’s on a paper plate? We’re ordering seconds.

Meera Nagarajan is art director at Sauce Magazine.