Steve's Gastronomic Home Page

Nunu's Mediterranean Cafe & Market

3131 W. Memorial Rd.
Oklahoma City, OK
(405) 751-7000

Quite a few of my meals have been spent trying different Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurants in Oklahoma City, but as far as I am concerned it is always a good thing when more are opened. Not only is this one of the most delicious types of food in the world, it is also recognized as being one of the healtiest. The owner of Nunu's in far north Oklahoma City serves recipes that originated in Lebanon and nearby countries and have been handed down for generations, and the care that is taken to serve authentic food is obvious. I consider Nunu's one of the better Mediterranean style restaurants, although it is a hard choice since every one I have tried has been good.

Nunu's is a "Cafe & Market," with display cases showcasing food and ingredients that can be taken home to be prepared. A grill behind the counter is used to prepare orders cooked in the restaurant, and these can be taken home as well. The menu includes both meat and vegetarian dinner plates, and several items are available a la carte.

Veggie plate
Veggie plate with tabouli, pita, houmos, lentil and rice pilaf, and veggie cabbage roll

A veggie sampler plate I ordered contained most of the vegetarian items that are served. The Veggie Cabbage Roll was quite good, being hand rolled with rice, tomatoes, and garbanzo beans cooked with lemon juice. Although only one cabbage roll was served, there were enough other items so that it was a substantial meal.

Houmos was a vegetarian side dish, and is also served on a number of the meat plates. This was more flavorful than most, although I also detected what seemed to be a greater than average amount of garlic. The texture was just right, and there was enough olive oil to make this a good dip for the pita bread.

The cabbage roll was served on a bed of Lentil and Rice Pilaf, a very fresh and filling serving of this vegetable mixture with onions mixed in for flavor.

Tabouli was very fresh but perhaps heavy on the parsley. I preferred this version to the one at Zorba's, however, that did not seem to have enough.

Lentil soup
Lentil soup comes in a cup (shown in photo) or a bowl

A fresh home made style Lentil Soup was so full of carrots and other vegetables that it provided a good complement to the lentils.

As good as the vegetable dishes were, though, the best item I tried was the Cabbage Roll made with beef, spices, and clarified butter. These were not only good, they were the type of cabbage roll that will make me want to return whenever possible for a "fix." A slight sour taste made them seem a little like German style food, but the mixture of spices were an excellent representation of Middle Eastern cooking. Although I was sorry to see Eddy's close with its signature cabbage rolls, the ones as Nunu's are the best replacement I have found so far.

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RESTAURANT DETAILS

RATING: 22

Cuisine: Lebanese
Cost: $$
Hours: Closed Sun.
Accessible: Yes
Smoking: No Smoking
Alcohol: No
Special Features: Deli & Market

Most Recent Visit
Oct. 25, 2008

Number of Visits: 1

Best Item
Cabbage Rolls

Special Ratings
Cabbage Rolls:
Veggie Cabbage Rolls:
Tabouli:
Houmos:
Lentil Soup:
Lentil and Rice Pilaf:
Pita:
Baklava:



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