The Greek Theater, Dave Matthews and Holy Land, Berkeley's Falafels..Great combination

[MSK]

Wouldn't have found Holy Land if it hadn't been for Chowhound. Thanks!!!

My "Pining for an Israeli Falafel" son had prompted a search some time ago and we've been wanted to go there ever since. Seeing DMB at the Greek seemed to be a perfect excuse to make our way over to the College Av location.

It was a perfect, warm starry night for a show. Parking near Holy Land was a breeze around 6pm as the parking restrictions for the evening had just expired. They were able to seat us promptly although we had to split our group of 6 into 2 tables. The owner seemed more dismayed by this than we were.

She approached us almost immediately, assuming we were regulars and already knew our favorites. That must happen a lot. She was helpful explaining the different dishes however.

My table had the Combination "Salad" which was an array of Hummus, Baba Ganoush, Peppers,Tabbouleh,Beets, Carrot Salad,Israeli Salad and Falafel balls served with a meer 1 pita. Portion as an app was enough for 4 but 2 of us scarfed it down within minutes. "I never knew I liked Beets so much" my son said. More pita would have been appreciated but all the dips were "Israeli caliber" as he exclaimed. (I wouldn't know.... having never had the opportunity to visit the true Holy Land as he had as a teen........but, don't worry about me, I'll just sit here in the dark).

We followed with a Lamb & Turkey Schwarma, Chicken Schwarma both served in a pita as opposed to a Lavosh as is my preference but my son says that is "as it should be." Probably not the "kosher" thing to do but we spent our time scooping up the remaining items on the app. plate to add to the pita sandwich. Very messy but oh, so yummy. Would the Schwarma have been a bit dry without?? I didn't have an opportunity to find out but it was also served with Tehini on the side.

The other table had a Falafel plate with hummus and it must have been good since it was gone before I had a chance to take a peak. They were smart enough to order the Malawach - Flat Yemeni Bread for extra dipping pleasure. They all had Schwarma, Shishlik - Grilled Marinated Beef and Falafel sandwiches and topped it off with the house specialty, Mint Lemonade. Not an unhappy face in the crowd.

Shame was that we had a show to see and could not linger (we zipped in and out of there pretty quickly). In addition, since we were at different tables and we had all ordered so many different things, it was kind of difficult to be scooping up dips with pitas and sharing plates across the tables......... but our neighbors seemed not to mind (just kidding).

Dave Matthews was awesome too BTW.

Any other leads on great Falafels in SF, Marin (in addition to Falafel Hut, SR) and beyond are appreciated.

[Mick Ruthven]

Aram's Cafe in Petaluma, owned by an Armenian family, has been doing very well for many years. I can't remember their falafel because I can never get past ordering the schwarma, which is the best I've had in the Bay Area. Note that I don't know what an "authentic" schwarma (or shawarma, or...) is; I just know what I like :-) If you get the schwarma be sure to get their red pepper sauce which they sometimes forget to bring.

-----
Aram's Cafe
131 Kentucky St, Petaluma, CA 94952

[Robert Lauriston]

Sunrise Deli's falafels are great. I don't like their hummus or baba ganoush etc. as much a Holy Land's. The food at the Berkeley Holy Land (not kosher) is better than the (kosher) Oakland branch.

-----
Holy Land Restaurant
2965 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

Sunrise Deli
2456 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

Sunrise Deli & Cafe
2115 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122

Holy Land Restaurant
677 Rand Ave, Oakland, CA 94610

[gordon wing]

the falafels at Wally's are pretty good ......

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/524291

[MSK]

Isn't there one on Divisadero that people have mentioned as being top notch?

[Robert Lauriston]

Yes:

-----
King of Falafel
1801 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94115