Ollie's in Dearborn Michigan

For those of you who don't know it, Dearborn Michigan is home to the largest settlement of Middle Eastern Descendants in North America.  It is filled with so many different types of Middle Eastern Delicacies you have trouble picking just one.

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a small place on Ford Rd. called Ollie's.  It has a big open space that holds a large dining room and a bar.  The cool thing about the bar is that is houses an oven where they cook fresh pita bread all day long.  That is the first thing you smell when you walk into the restaurant.

I was fortunate to have gotten there right before the real lunch rush came in.  It's right near the Ford Headquarters so you have a lot of people there that I'm sure know about this place.

I had looked at the menu and remembered I had gotten the hummus and Chicken special the last time and I wanted that hummus again.  The menu has a good mix of Lebanese cuisine from Shish Ka Bob's to all kinds of salads.  I wanted to try the Baba Ghanooj this time.  They had a starter combo that included the Baba Ghanooj, Hummus and Tabbouli.  I figured I can't go wrong with that one.  The Hummus was creamy with the right amount of garlic and paprika.  If you wanted, there was a small pitcher of Olive oil on the table to richen it up.  The Baba Ghanooj was good but not great.  It had too smoky a flavor to it that needed to be toned down in my opinion.  The Tabbouli was fantastic.  It had a great amount of mint in it to freshen everything up.

I don't know why the photo is turned on it's side here but turn your head to get an idea of what it looks like.  Trust me when I say you won't have to do this when you eat it one day. You can keep your head exactly how you like it.

Now as I was in the mood for a salad, I chose the small Fattoush salad.  Which was basically your average salad but with fried pita chips that were fried in Garlic.  Oh, so good.   I had it topped with meat Shwarma. For those you who don't know the name Shwarma, you have seen it before.  It is basically any kind of meat that is stacked on a large skewer and placed vertically next to a heating element to caramelize the outside of the meat skewer.  Then it is rotated so the outside is cooked evenly.  A person then slices off meat vertically so that you get a nice caramelized piece of meat with every bit.

As you can see the salad also came with a whole bunch of Feta cheese on top.  Bummer right?  Well I hope I don't dissapoint but there was no way I was able to finish both of the dishes.  Very filling and very generous portions are given here.  I saw some Shish Ka Bob's brought out all over so I have to try them next.

Ollie's can be found in Dearborn Michigan at 16351 Ford Rd.  313-253-1010.  or look for them online at www.olliescuisine.com/