Re more acidity: Perhaps you could request a lemon wedge on your next visit. I hate lemon-lime sodas, but if available I always squeeze a lemon wedge on my grilled fish and a lime wedge on my lamb seekh kabob.
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everything was a hit except for the mild flavored peach soft serve. @rlw power rankings forthcoming?
shout out to aitor at the next table.
patio now open
yellowfin crudo - smoked trout roe, mushroom tzatziki, pickled shallots, seeds, dill, fried laffa
i don’t like crudos, especially the kanpachi crudos that you see on every menu. but this was really good, a bit smoky and very flavorful. the mushroom tzatziki is brilliant. this with the crispy-chewy fried laffa is a great bite.
hummus ful - slow cooked fava beans, cumin, lemon, fermented serrano, soft egg, challah
the challah this is served with may top bavel’s piping hot pita for me. i said it. pro tip, order more challah to sop up all the sauces. goes great with the mussels.
tomatoes - smoked eggplant puree, feta, cinnamon, sesame & nigella, savory, cilantro
delicious as before
(new) grilled lobster skewer - green harissa, serrano-lime yogurt, cilantro blossoms
this is a play on bavel’s best dish, the grilled prawns with harissa and tzatziki. you don’t get to suck the heads like the prawns but the lobster is right up there with a little chili-lime action going on. the heat sneaks up on you but is not too overpowering.
(new) grilled onion & endive salad - walnuts, pomegranate molasses, chervil, meyer lemon zest
reminded me of bestia’s chicken gizzards dish and angler’s radicchio. the bitterness of the endive and walnuts was nicely balanced with the sweet onions and pomegranate dressing.
wood-fire shawarma - lamb & beef, lettuce, tomato, sumac onions, tahini, red ajika, laffa
the preassembled shawarma is finally back, the portions and ratios of ingredients are now in perfect harmony and is like night and day from what i could have assembled at the table.
all is right again at saffy’s. I no longer blame @hppzz
kitchen
me
chicken shishlik - garlic, cumin, cinnamon, green fenugreek, sumac
beef shishlik - yogurt, mint, garlic, pepper, marjoram & oregano oil
there’s a new skewer format that i think may have fixed the laffa sitch. each order is now a choice of two skewers and it comes with one laffa.
the chicken was a highlight again, but that beef, which was different from what i got opening night and has only been on the menu for about two weeks now was the surprise hightlight–perfectly cooked, tender and flavorful.
regier farms peach soft serve
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It just needs to be said that @PorkyBelly and I ordered as much food as I did when I was with 4 other friends a couple months ago 
Power Rankings
- Shawarma - absolutely elite now that it’s preassembled. It’s such a well balanced bite that’s quickly rising to the top of my list
- Grilled Lobster Skewer - sneaky spicy, and the first blast of flavor gets overpowered by the harissa, but after a few seconds chewing the sweetness of the lobster comes through and it is a pretty wonderful bite
- Hummus Ful + killer Challah - I slept on the challah last time I was here, but this bread is really remarkable. The hummus is as smooth as ever
- Yellowfin Crudo - unlike @PorkyBelly I do like crudos, but this one was wayyyyy better than any other I’ve had recently
- Beef Shishlik - this is now confirmed to be better than the chicken by chef himself (good to know I was always in the right side)
- Chicken Shishlik - even though the beef is better this is still one of the best (let’s say a top 3 to be safe) grilled chicken dishes in the city
- Grilled Onion and Endive Salad - the Angler radicchio is better, but I did quite like this salad and would get it again. It’s great that they put multiple layers down of onions and endive, so that you get number of perfectly composed and balanced bites
- Tomatoes - even though it’s at the bottom of the power rankings it’s not bad by any means (Saffy’s floor is incredibly high). I just didn’t like getting some tough pieces of tomato skin left over and wished that there was more eggplant. Still a sure-fire order though
- Peach Soft Serve - eh.
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looks like i gotta go to saffy’s now
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What do you recommend at Laser Wolf? Would say they are pretty similar. Do you like one over the other?
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6 person reservation for this Saturday, August 13 at 7:30 PM up for grabs if anybody wants it.
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Laser Wolf (Philly branch only) runs circles around Saffy’s. Get anything you like the look of.
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Don’t miss the salatim at Laser Wolf.
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I hear ya. I was with the other OOE eater across the street at Found Oyster. The only thing that saved us from complete gluttony was the server forgot a dish. She said “You ordered a lot of food.” I thought, “Sister, you have no idea.”
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I know it is a silly question but for those OOE eaters - it is always hard to judge from the posts how many people are eating these large spreads but are you always going with a larger group to cover everything or is it indeed just for you and so you take a some bites from everything and take everything else home. But if you indeed eat everything in the restaurant by yourself how do you not gain 10 pounds every week (and yes, I an sitting in a rather boring meeting and have too much time)
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Not silly questions. I think it’s a little bit of all that. A lot of OOE photos are from group dinners, which are fun for trying a variety of dishes. But! There are some Olympic-level eaters on FTC! And probably some who eat a couple bites and take a lot of food home.
Dieting is the tricky part. Hubs and I are in the home stretch of losing our Covid 19lbs, so we’re mostly eating home cooking and tend to dine-out when it’s a group thing or special occasion. I think age has a bit to do with eating habits too. Younger peeps eat more.
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Age is an interesting point - I assumed that many of the posters on this board tend to be a bit older as many posts are about more expansive restaurants and your “free” money tends to be easier available once you are part of the workforce for a longer time. Would be really interesting to find out more about the age and job profiles of many of the posters
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Some of the regulars whose ages I know are late 20s to 30s. In LA there are a lot of young people with serious money. And I think a lot of foodies who have a comfortable income and put most or all of their disposable income into food.
I don’t know the ages of any of the regulars who seem to eat like Diamond Jim Brady. Or how many days a week they fast.
reservation for 2 8/20 6pm up for grabs.
Already gone
it’s my reservation and still available
Oh I’m dumb and understand now. Well thanks to this post I got a Saturday res for the week after so thanks anyway 
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