Shawarma King, Columbia Heights

[fries n sumac]

So one of the New Years resolutions I was tricked into was that for the month of January, KB and I are going to be vegetarians. Don't ask me why; I don't know. It's healthy? It's less morally repugnant? Before you jump on me for capitulating to a lifestyle I find silly and reprehensible, please understand that I made several other New Year's resolutions that I neither understand nor would ever commit to on my own. For example, I've agreed to run a full marathon this year. WTF?

Anyway, one thing I've noticed is, when you're eating vegetarian, you never get full. Definitely not off of one meal, anyway. (Why do I feel like I'm talking about drugs -- "Maaaan, when you ain't on smack, you can't never get hiiiiigh!!"). I was talking to friend A., a long-time vegemite who now eats meat, the other day about this, and he agreed, and said that when he only ate non-meat, he was grazing all the time and never really satisfied. Now that he eats steak, he can get full! (Wait, now it feels like I'm writing a column for Cosmo -- "Before I let go of all my hangups about my body, I could never climax...").

So on Friday night I was out drinking at Marx Cafe in DC, after the Gogol Bordello show, and I got them drinkin' hungries, and KB told me that on Columbia Ave near her house a new falafel/shawarma place had opened up one week ago, called Shawarma King. It was indeed open at 2 am, and I enjoyed an excellent falafel -- one that competes admirably with Amsterdam Falafel on 18th Street in Adams-Morgan, and MUCH cheaper ($3.99 for a falafel).


['lafel]

The two best things about this falafel -- which was, admittedly, unremarkable as far as the taste of its deep-friend-chick-pea balls, which was fine, but not unbelievable or anything -- were the toppings bar, and the SUMAC. Like Amsterdam, King has serve-your-own toppings including beets, pickles, hummus, tahini, lettuce, tomato, and a highly-citrused Israeli salad of tomato and cucumber. On the extra side, they have a creamy white garlic spread and a mildly-spicy red hots spread that were deliciously thick in flavor (I went back for seconds on my bottom layer).

Then, sitting atop the toppings buffet, they had this pizza-shaker full of ground red sumac powder, something that I had (call me ignorant) never seen before. I shook it liberally onto my falafel but also my fries, which were limp and not that good, and it gave everything this really awesome smoky, savory taste that was really interesting. I was asking the folks who own the shop, who were Palestinians from Bethlehem, which part of the sumac tree it came from, but there was a communication barrier that I wasn't able to overcome. Anyway, some guy who was in there said something about how a lot of Middle Eastern food, especially Iranian food, has sumac as a topping. It's no Old Bay, but it's a start.