Restaurant Review: Kan Zaman in San Francisco, California

The great thing about Haight Street in San Francisco, California is that you can travel the globe just by walking down the street. The Haight is home to Kan Zaman, a restaurant featuring Palestinian and Lebanese cuisine, which also doubles as a sexy, edgy night spot. (You have to love a drink menu that lists Ouzo, apple and pomegranate martinis, mojitos and electric lemonades all on the same page.)

Kan Zaman has a wonderful, dark crimson hue to it. The walls are painted in warm, rich murals of desert scenes and the dim lighting has a red cast to it. The tables are adorned with candles and nestled in cozy banquettes with velvet pillows. The seductive atmosphere is further enhanced by one's option of renting a hookah, which the wait staff will bring to the table, along with a fruit-scented tobacco of one's choice. And on Fridays and Saturday evenings there are belly dancing performances to transport one into the Middle East experience, with Arabic music and a DJ.

Moving on to the food, Kan Zaman offers all of the Middle Eastern standards, such as falafels, kibbi, shish kebabs and shawerma plates, all expertly prepared. The spices are fairly understated yet the dishes are flavorful and beautifully presented with a full range of exotic flavors. Kan Zaman describes its food as having "traditional Arabic spices with Greek and Italian twists." That's a fairly accurate description - in that sense the food could be said to be a "Mediterranean fusion" of sorts. My son described the food perfectly: he commented that it was "comfort food," with which I heartily concur. It is Middle Eastern comfort food - warm, inviting and nurturing.

I can tell a lot about a Middle Eastern restaurant based on its baba ganos, which I have sampled at literally dozens of restaurants. Kan Zaman's baba ganos is pureed and has a wonderful, smoky flavor. The mound of eggplant, tahini and garlic puree is framed by olives, a hot pepper, some parsley puree and drizzled with olive oil, and it is addictive. Everyone in our dining party loved it, including my fourteen-year-old son, who normally won't touch vegetables with a ten-foot pole. It is served with a basket of warm pita bread. Other appetizers we tasted included the meat pies and kibbi (cracked wheat meat pies with a spiced lamb filling) which were both hearty and filling.

The entrees we selected included chicken shish kebabs, which were grilled to perfection; lamb musaka, which was a delectable combination of eggplant, lamb, potatoes and cheese; and the shawerma plate (grilled beef, hummos, tabouleh and pita bread). All of the dishes were tasty and had that same laid-back yet tasty seasoning. To give an example, my husband invited me to taste his tabouleh, which is typically prepared as very vinegary and sort of green-tasting, due to an abundance of parsley. Kan Zaman's tabouleh is heavy on the couscous and very light-handed with the parsley and vinegar - be still, my heart! Although this is probably more palatable to a Westerner than someone from the Middle East, I have to say that I loved it!

So if you're looking for a place to spend the larger part of a weekend evening, go to Kan Zaman. You can get a hearty, tasty meal, finish it off with a few hits from a hookah and dessert, and then move on to belly dancing!

Kan Zaman can best be described as moderately priced (its entrees fall in the $11-14 range). It has a full bar and welcomes private parties. The hours are Mon.- Thurs. from 5 p.m.-12 a.m., Fri. from 5 p.m. - 2 a.m., Sat. from 12 p.m. - 2 a.m., and Sun. from 12 p.m. - 12 a.m. Its Happy Hour is Mon. - Fri. from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m., featuring $2 beers and $3.50 cocktails and shots. Visa and MasterCard are both accepted. Kan Zaman is located at 1793 Haight Street (between Shrader and Cole Streets) in San Francisco, California. The phone number is (415)751-9656. (This is a popular restaurant and hangout, so a reservation is never a bad idea.)

Sources:

Personal experience

www.kanzamansf.com