What a great chat with Tarek tonight at the Max Mart Deli on Rice Street (in the gas station).
It's so much fun to chat with people who have lived and traveled in parts of the world near and far and bring perspectives about life in a whole range of countries, communities.
Sometimes we get tired of driving and driving to find food. So, on this evening's outing, we started to head out...thought of many good places pretty far away...and said, nope, staying close to home and checking out that sign that says 'best lamb gyros.'
We had a couple of great sandwiches here in the past...but that was under the previous owner. Then they closed for a few months and it's hard to get back into the groove sometimes.
So tonight our fatigue brought us a close to home adventure that turned out to have a lot of international flavor.
Tarek is from Egypt, and he's the guy 10 - 8 Mon thru Fri at the Max Mart on Rice Street. He works a second job on Lake Street on Sat and Sun. He's lived in Germany and traveled extensively, gaining a lot of insights into life in various places around the world.
We ordered a lamb gyros and a falafel sandwich, but really we got down to a wide-ranging conversation with a guy with a great sense of humor, a work ethic like ours, and lots of thoughts about how people engage in life.
I think the food was good...frankly, the conversation was so engaging that we ate and talked and ate and talked as we sat at the stainless steel counter with a couple of Coke's from the convenience store cooler selection (actually, we don't remember seeing 16 oz cans of Coke before--we'll call 'em 'talls'). Tarek talked about why life is hard in Egypt now due to the country's current leadership, the difficulty in making your paycheck stretch to support you there, and how much better life is in other places. He was in Germany for quite awhile--life there was better for him, but he described some of the people as 'hard'...I think he'd say 'rigid' if I can do a little extra translation for him based on his elaboration on his impressions.
He said living in the U.S. was better than living in Germany...he was impressed with just the sheer size of our country and that he could support himself through his work (he seemed undaunted by working 7 days a week every week). His manner is engaging, and I loved it that when I said I didn't need an order of fries because I'd just share some of John's, that a nice sized pile of fries appeared in my basket. John claimed I would still steal some of his. I later dutifully showed Tarek that I saved that last fry he gave me and put it in John's basket....he laughed!
This should be a food review...really good falafel sandwich...and Tarek smiled when I said I appreciated that he put it together to be attractive, too...oh, and I think John's gyros was good, too....I don't know for sure because he didn't share
Tarek makes a lot of the sauces and some of the other menu items from scratch...I'll report back on those some other day. But this turned out to be a life experience review and a small world review. Tarek also enjoys dining at the Marina Grill and Deli on Lowry and University where Adel knows his way around the spices in the kitchen (Tarek also explained that the Big Marina Deli on Central is not the same flavors because the guys there are actually Moroccan--quite a different flavor profile). When people from almost anywhere can connect and talk about our common humanity...and common quest for a great meal...it's always a great experience.
We'll return there to try some other items on the menu, particularly those that are scratch-made...the experience will be like meeting an old friend for lunch.
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