Spicy Syrian food -- and all that jazz

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The Christian Quarter in Aleppo, Syria.

I haven't been to Aleppo Restaurant in Paterson's bustling Middle Eastern bazaar for several months, but our meal late Saturday afternoon couldn't have been better.

We started with pureed lentil soup scented with cumin, served with a lemon wedge and crunchy bits of toasted pocket bread; and muhammara, a dip of sweet red peppers and walnuts, made spicy with dried and ground Aleppo red peppers the owner gets from Syria.

Another appetizer is my son's favorite, meat arayes or seasoned beef inside toasted pocket bread, served in wedges.

Our whole, grilled red snapper was rubbed with more Aleppo red pepper and hot sauce. My son chose the Aleppo kebab, four skewers of ground meat. Both entrees were served with rice.

We cooled down the fire of the muhammara and fish with a refreshing dish of yogurt and cucumbers, and I finished the meal with a cup of thick Arabic coffee. My son couldn't finish his food.

This meal was both delicious and reasonably priced: $2 for a bowl of soup, $4 for the muhammara or yogurt, $6 for the arayes, $10 for the kebabs and $14 for the whole fish.

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Baron Hotel in Aleppo.

During our meal, a group of nine men and women sat at a table, discussing and debating the meaning of the Koran, as Arabic music played in the background. 

I noticed that a Turkish place called Hummus, just across Main Street, had gone out of business. 

We could have gone food shopping at Fattal's Syrian Bakery, on the next block, or at Brothers Produce in the Paterson Farmers' Market near the Clifton border.

But we had tickets to a concert in The Jazz Room of William Paterson University in neighboring Wayne.

Drummer Roy Haynes, who is 86 years young, led a quartet in a half-dozen standards, bouncing around the stage, attacking his drums and playing just about everything in sight, including the mike stand and the edge of his cymbals. 

Aleppo Restaurant, 939 Main St., Paterson; 973-977-2244. No liquor allowed. 

I can't believe I ate the whole thing

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I was out all day yesterday and grabbed meals where I could -- in Morristown and Wayne.

For lunch, I did takeout from Cha Cha Cha Cuban Bistro, which opened a couple of months ago. I liked my avocado salad with mixed greens, onion and orange slices in a mango dressing ($6) and small black bean soup ($3), but the yellow rice that came with it was undercooked and hard.

On the way to see a Turkish film at William Paterson University in Wayne, I stopped at Brother Bruno Pizza, the octagonal wooden restaurant on a hill that I had passed so many times in the last few decades without going in. (It's been there since 1976.)

The displayed pizzas looked ossified, so I ordered an eggplant parmigiana hero and seltzer. The sandwich tasted homemade -- just the right proportions of thin, breaded eggplant, melted cheese and sauce that didn't get  all over the place, including on  my clothes.

But it was at least a foot long and enough for two. I can't believe I ate the whole thing.


Brother Bruno Pizza, 140 Hamburg Turnpike, Wayne;
 973-790-3321. Web site: Brother Bruno Pizza

Cha Cha Cha Cuban Bistro, 23 Washington St., Morristown;
973-998-6388. (15% off delivery orders through April.)