We’re lucky to live in the area where many different cultures are within a close reach. Not only in Queens, Brooklyn, or the Bronx which are a bus and a subway ride away but also in Paterson, NJ that takes minutes by car.
The prospect of shopping for clothes depresses and terrifies me. Shopping for food in those little ethnic enclaves I can go for hours: reading labels, googling vegetables never heard of before, talking to vendors through a translate app.
Never go food shopping hungry! Having learned this a hard way, occasionally, I like to stop for a meal at a local place where we’ve never been before. They are a plenty among factory buildings in the industrial areas of Paterson.
Al Mazaq, an Iraqi bakery and restaurant, is serving food in a former garage on the street where I usually go for Middle Eastern food shopping.
We’ve had Lebanese many times, been to a Yemeni cafe in Brooklyn, love Turkish, Moroccan, Tunisian food. I’ve cooked Palestinian meals at home. But we have never tried an Iraqi place.
First thing at Al Mazaq that hits the olfactory is the smell of fresh baked bread and roasting lamb. For the eyes, there are people sipping dark tea from tall glass cups. And two beautiful energetic young women managing the dining room — very business but very friendly.
We tried a traditional Iraqi breakfast Bagila Plater. These were Fava beans cooked in a spiced minty broth and served over the freshly baked flatbread that sops the broth and all the flavors. Beans are topped with an egg and flashed with hot oil.
Every meal comes with turshi, house pickled vegetables, and a bread basket.
One salad we ordered was an eggplant with fried onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.
Another one was arugula, apples, and raisins spiced with sumac and pomegranate molasses.
To finish, we split an Iraqi kebab — grilled ground lamb that arrived on a large flatbread with sumac spiced onions, roasted tomatoes and peppers.
A lover of ayran, I couldn’t pass their smoked yogurt drink with dried mint. Amazing!
We’re definitely heading back to try their Maskoof, the National Iraqi dish of grilled carp. To order it, you have to call two days in advance. Very intrigued!