Teaneck Kebab House

[Jason Perlow]

Teaneck Kebab House

253 DeGraw Ave, Teaneck, NJ

(201) 836-8571

This is the place across the street from Bistro EN:

Teaneck Kebab house has a beautiful dining room, but because its main entrance is closed to the street and the windows are draped, you'd have no idea. They also own the pizza place next door, which you need to enter in order to gain access to the Kebab House. The room is filled with genuine Afghan carpets, giving it a very warm and cozy feel. Live entertainment is provided on weekends.

This is the complimentary salad, which has a nice mint/yogurt dressing.

These are Sambosas, a type of fried meat turnover. They are puffy on the inside so you can take a small bite and fill them with chutney.

Mantoo, fresh meat dumplings with a tomato/meat sauce and yogurt. The black "dust" is dried mint, which imparts an interesting flavor to the dish. The spices used in the restaurant are sourced strictly from Afghani merchants.

Afghan Bread

This is a hot eggplant appetizer. The eggplant has a really strong and bold flavor, and resembles Turkish eggplant salad somewhat, but with a different spicing. It's eaten with traditional Afghan bread.

This is pasta with red beans, in a tangy yogurt sauce.

Kofta Kebab (spiced ground lamb) with brown Afghan Basmati rice pilaf. Naturally all the meat served in the restaurant is Halal.

The Pizzeria they own next door shouldn't be overlooked — they do both deep dish and thin NY-style pizza (with Halal mozzarella cheese).

The pizza place also uses Halal meat for its Gyro sandwiches, and makes its Gyro meat in-house.

Edited June 24, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[chefdavidrusso]

I actually ate lunch there the first time I ever called on Bistro En....I've never had Afgan food, but I thought it was excellent. The yogurt dressing on the salad was particularly good.

I had the Sambosas that Jason pictured and they were very good...the two chutneys were particular standouts. The sambosas were very properly fried, very light, not at all greasy.

I loved the bread as well.

I had Kebobs (lamb) and they were very good, but I remember particularly enjoying the rice.

All in all a very good experience

[Rachel Perlow]

The rice Jason pictured is a Palow, not just a pilaf. It is made with brown basmati rice and has raisins, pistachios and candied carrot strips as garnish. We chatted with the woman who does the cooking and she was telling us how she washes then soaks the rice for 24 hours before cooking. Each day, after she cooks that day's batch of rice, she starts the next soaking.

The kofta kabob was excellent as well. Strongly spiced with visible pieces of onion, not too finely ground. We'll definitely be returning.

[ghostrider]

Do you recall what else was on the menu - the Afghan equivalent of curries, a sort of creamed spinach dish, etc.? The Afghan names escape me & I lack the time to look them up.

We have long missed the Afghan place that used to be up in Ridgewood. We might be up for the drive to Teaneck, but I'd like to know more about the menu. (Alas, they aren't on line.)

[M.X.Hassett]

Good place, the Hallal market next door has some pretty good goat also. Across from them the other store has some pretty cool sodas also. Damn now I am going to have to walk up the street.

[Jason Perlow]

The rice Jason pictured is a Palow, not just a pilaf

Actually, Palow is just the Afghan word for Pilaf. Pilow, Plow, Plov, Palow, Pullao, Pilaf, Pilav, are all derivations of the same word. The dish originates from Persia in what is now known as Turkey and Iran.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilaf

Edited June 25, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[jwjojo]

Went here last night with a friend. Aside from another table, we were the only customers. We ordered the chicken kabob with the special rice, and sauteed eggplant. They both were good. Service was fine. The rice is very tasty. The salad was nothing special, iceberg lettuce, tom, cucumber, carrot, decent dressing. The bread was good. The chicken was cooked perfectly, and the eggplant was tasty, but rather oily. All in all it was a nice meal in a cozy ambiance. The spicing was a bit different than other middle eastern foods I have had, but the same genre.

[LNorman]

Thanks for the info on this place. I love Afghan food and hope to visit it soon. I also wish I could learn how to cook it. I have two Afghan cookbooks plus a photocopy of one I got from the Library of Congress. But like every other country, the dishes are often different in the cookbooks than how they are are in the restaurants. Spellings and pronunication differ. Nice to know that many countries, despite their obvious differences, still have many things in common.

[M.X.Hassett]

I love Afghan food and hope to visit it soon. I also wish I could learn how to cook it.

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You could always check out the Middle East & Africa forum.

[bergen]

[The Pizzeria they own next door shouldn't be overlooked — they do both deep dish and thin NY-style pizza (with Halal mozzarella cheese).

the Pizzeria next door used to be great. It has gone downhill.

[Anonymouze]

Teaneck Kebab House

253 DeGraw Ave, Teaneck, NJ

(201) 836-8571

Sounds worth the look-see, I think I shall coerce my husband to go there w/me!

P.S.

Don't mix up the Palow with the Perlow... unless you're a cannibal.

[Jason Perlow]

Don't mix up the Palow with the Perlow... unless you're a cannibal.

Actually "Perlow" and "Perloo" is a Southern rice dish similar to Jambalaya which is derived from Paella, which in turn via Moorish influence is derived from Pilaf aka Palow aka Pilaz, etc.

[Jason Perlow]

[The Pizzeria they own next door shouldn't be overlooked — they do both deep dish and thin NY-style pizza (with Halal mozzarella cheese).

the Pizzeria next door used to be great.  It has gone downhill.

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Yeah, but you can get a pizza with Halal gyro meat on it. That has to count for something.

[bergen]

[Yeah, but you can get a pizza with Halal gyro meat on it. That has to count for something.

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[ghostrider]

So, again: this place is strictly a kebab house, with some potentially interesting appetizers, and not a full-blown Afghan restaurant. Yes?

[pbrodsky]

So, again: this place is strictly a kebab house, with some potentially interesting appetizers, and not a full-blown Afghan restaurant.  Yes?

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I tried it yesterday evening, and enjoyed it very much. Maybe I've been trying the wrong things, but this is the first restaurant I've tried whose use of spices reminds me of the last-lamented Afghan Grill in Edison. I disturbed by the fact that I was they ONLY diner in the dining room, but when I asked the waitress/hostess about it she said that Thursday is a very quiet day.

Even though the menu is not very extensive, I would describe it as a full-blown restaurant. It is actually a very highly decorated dining room, with many (presumably Afghan) objects scattered around the periphery.

Service was a little lax but very friendly. That was probably because I was the only one there, and the same people were running both the pizza place and the restaurant.

I do plan to return.

Edited June 30, 2006 by pbrodsky (log)