good gyrations."
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Aladdin's Natural
Eatery
100 Dryden Rd (aka Collegetown)
Prices: Major items $5-10
Posted on: 10/3/99
Part of a small upstate chain (also in Rochester, at least), Aladdin's fits snugly into Ithaca's greenish tint. Although there are few self-proclaimed Mediterranean or Middle Eastern restaurants in town, one can sometimes find this type of food in the guise of "healthy" and "natural" restaurants. Whatever they choose to call it, Aladdin's has two big lures: quality food and very reasonable prices.
Aladdin's is not what we'd consider a full-scale restaurant, in the sense of one going out for a large many course meal. Rather, it is something of a cross between a "normal" restaurant and a quick style eatery. Their menu is not enormous, with a few selections in each main category, such as soups, salads, gyros and variations thereon, and pasta dishes. For the quality lunch, or the lighter dinner, though, Aladdin's hits the target.
The chicken chili is generous and tasty, an ideal appetizer, although admittedly not a Southern-style fire chili ... think of it as "chili-like". Still, for a bowl of beans it's a good thing. Of course there is the vegetarian version for fowl fearers. Baba ghanoush, a frequent selection of ours, is reasonable here although one of us finds it a bit too light or "airy". Several gyro-like variants include the typical gyro (a meat mixture, though, and not pure lamb as He intends it), and a couple based on grilled chicken and grilled beef, with different sauces to match. These quasi-gyros are satisfying both in heft and taste, the only complaint being that they contain a bit too much extra oil, which we let drip out onto the plate.
Aladdin's offers several salads beyond the typical garden and Caesar, with various exotics like fruit and nuts, all of which are a big hit with us.
There is not a lot
to opine about with Aladdin's, but that's not such a drawback -- it's
a comfortable spot with good food that won't set you back much.
Their menu aspires
towards mediterranean and although it mostly makes it as far as "mediterranean-like",
for their purpose that happens to be far enough.
