Baba Kabob

A few months back, I headed on over to Bann, only to find out they had closed (they've moved to the new H Mart on Balboa). I took a quick glance across Black Mountain Road and noticed the "Afghan Cuisine" sign. The name of the place; Baba Kabob.

It had been ages since I'd had Afghan food; so I decided to pick up some lunch to take back to the office.

The restaurant is set-up in the "fast-casual" style. You order at the counter, etc, etc.

It was clean; fairly quiet for 1130, and a very nice young man was manning the counter.

The menu is simple and to the point; though you can do things like make your entrée "protein style" and they'll add a couple of sunny side up eggs to your kebab.....tempting, but I figured it would just be too much food for lunch.

I ordered a Chapli Kebab ($9.99); something I hadn't had in ages.

The beef patty was thin and nicely griddled; I enjoyed the onions, but some of it was tough and stringy. The seasoning was a bit milder than I expected and this was a bit on the dry side. On the other hand; as usual, I loved the tangy, slightly spicy green chatni; which I would probably eat on cardboard and enjoy.

The portion of rice was huge, but on the dry side, not very fragrant, and fairly bland....I guess I'd been wishing for something along the lines of Kabuli Pulao; but this was fairly plain. As was the routine green salad.

It was not terrible by any means, the service was nice and the food cooked to order, but I wasn't motivated to revisit right away.

A few weeks later; I heard that Smack'N Guamanian Grill had opened. So that following Monday, after checking out their website for hours I headed over. They were however closed (not to worry; if you follow my Flickr account you know we eventually made it), I needed a place to grab lunch. The easy choice again was Baba Kabob.

This time around; there was an older gentleman working....he did everything....very efficiently.

This time around I ordered two items; one for me and one to share with the folks back in the office.

I decided to go with the Chicken Kabob ($9.99).

And I was quite pleasantly surprised. The white meat chicken was indeed on the drier side, but the marinade had done a good job of giving it a really pleasant salty-acidity. It was also nicely seasoned and even had a mild smokiness to boot.

The rice this time around was perfectly cooked, with just enough chew to it, fragrant, and it had decent buttery-salty-savory tones. The amount of rice was again very generous.

Curious, I also ordered the "house special", the Gandana Bolani ($9.99). I was pleased to watch the gentleman roll out the dough and basically make it to order.

And while I think that it could have been perhaps a bit more crisp; the flatbread did have a slight crispness, was nicely seasoned, with a pleasant pull, and not greasy in the least. This almost reminded me of a more pungent, slightly spicy Cong You Bing (葱油饼), the Chinese Scallion "Pancake".

I had one piece and shared with the rest of the folks; who seemed to enjoy it.

Not bad at all.

So, while not perfect, what I've had from Baba Kabob has been decent at the least. The food on my second visit was much better than what I had on my first. Service was very friendly during both visit. So, I guess while Baba Kabob may not be my first choice of places in the area, it's probably a good "plan B".

Baba Kabob
9474 Black Mountain Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Hours:
Mon - Thurs 11am - 9pm
Fri - Sat   11am - 10pm
Sunday      11am - 8pm

Comments

[Soo]

The meats look really good.

[Kirk]

The chicken was quite good Soo. They make everything to order as well. Really nice folks too.

[Junichi]

Open on the weekends. Maybe I'll stop by during my frequent beeramar excursions.

[Kirk]

Check them out Junichi and let me know what you think.

[kat]

everything sounded good.

[Kirk]

It was cooked fresh and the folks were very nice Kat!