MABAT (BROOKLYN)

Recently, we had the opportunity to have dinner at Mabat in Brooklyn. For work and geographic reasons, we generally patronize the Mabat in Teaneck. This time, we went to Brooklyn (East 7 St at Kings Highway).

The Brooklyn restaurant gives new meaning to the concept of tiny. On top of that, they really pack the customers in, but no one seems to mind.

As far as an Israeli steakiyah goes, Mabat is one of the best. The food is always fresh and tasty.

We had four small plates of salads ($18) to start the evening. The salads were hummus, babaganoush, matbucha and Greek eggplant salad. Except for the babaganoush which was incredibly bland, the other salads were superlative. Eaten with piping hot, fresh from the oven pita, they were a great way to start the evening.

Two of us had rib steaks and one of us had lamb chops. The lamb chops were good looking pieces of meat, good sized portions, and redolent of the mysteries of the near East. The two steaks were huge ($36 each), and cooked exactly the way we each requested. The fries were soggy, but the Israeli salad was tasty and fresh. The grilled onions always add a treat to the meal. One of us had tomato basil chunks, and one of us had stuffed mushrooms. Each of us enjoyed our meals very much.

What is the most fun about the place? The menu!! Apparently it is written by someone for whom English is not his/her native language. In addition, we would have to assume that the printer didn’t know much English, either. The mistakes in the menu were so many, that we couldn’t tell you a number. And some of the mistakes were quite funny.

My favorite was in the description of a steak: they wrote that that steak was “a favorite of ARE generation.” Too funny! Well, at least they didn’t spell steak “stake.” Menu item descriptions are written as run on sentences with no punctuation, capital letters randomly assigned, and just plain old bad spelling. Our entertainment that night was howling over the menu.

Again, the food was superlative. Forget ambiance- the place is too small and too crowded. But we would go there again in a New York minute!