Jerusalem Restaurant

I first went to Jerusalem Restaurant, on the corner of Evans and High St, eight years ago. The food and the interior (from the ratty furniture to the heat on so high it feels like a blast of hot air from the oven) hasn't changed one bit. 


On this visit I skipped on my usual meal of falafel and hummus and got a falafel sandwich, which I found to be wrapped in a disappointingly dry bread. The sandwich was full of too many onions and tomatoes. It was quite disappointing. Luckily, I ordered a side of hummus which did come with fresh pita bread, the bread that should have been used with my sandwich, but clearly wasn't. I didn't order the baklava this time, although I do recommend it. 

A staple dish in the Middle East, chicken shawarma, was once ordered by a friend of mine. He is from Israel and he wanted a taste of home, but when the shawarma arrived, he said, "This is not shawarma. This is bad." I later visited him in Israel and we had magnificent feasts of shawarma and many other middle eastern dishes that far surpassed anything from Jerusalem Restaurant. However, most of Jerusalem Restaurant's customers haven't had that experience and so there is nothing to judge the food here against, besides another middle eastern restaurant in Colorado. This is why Jerusalem Restaurant has won a number of awards for being the best middle eastern restaurant in Denver. 


And all that aside, the place remains good enough to keep me coming back. I don't have the same standards as my friend has, even though now I have had the real deal overseas. I'll go back. And, if you've never been, I would definitely recommend a visit. In my experience, you'll have a great meal sticking with hummus, falafel, baklava, and a nice stack of pita bread.


Dined February 9, 2012.


Written by B.


Picture is of the real thing in Nazareth, Israel.