Maybe it’s a cold cut at Subway. Maybe it’s a double cheeseburger from McDonald’s, or a cinnamon raisin bagel from Einstein Bros. When we’re on the go and we need something to eat – quick – we often end up choosing the same meal from the same place every time because it’s convenient and safe.
Although we can be assured we’ll enjoy our meal every time, this leads to bored taste buds. And bored taste buds are unhappy taste buds.
Luckily, many quick-service restaurants and food carts in Madison offer both speed and unconventional cuisine. Take Buraka, for example. The cheerful East African food cart is often found parked somewhere along Library Mall, beckoning to passers-by with its bright yellow sign. Even when traveling between a tightly-packed schedule of class, work and meetings, it’s easy to drop in and grab a Styrofoam to-go box filled with all manner of Ethiopian and Somali cuisine.
There’s the dorowot – chicken and carrots in a peppery brown sauce – the baris, curry chicken and the chicken peanut stew, which also comes vegetarian style. Every dish is served with a cold lentil salad and on top of either rice or injera, a spongy flatbread.
I went for the popular dorowot with injera. The chicken was moist and the carrots were well-cooked. Both were soaked through with a savory brown sauce that ignited my nose but went down smooth.
The injera was mostly tasteless but was a delight for a texture junkie like me. It somehow had the porous-ness of a sponge, the lightness of cotton candy and the gummyness of a mouse pad all at once.
The lentil salad was cold, lemony and bright and provided a welcome relief from the heavy spicier main dish. And the best part? The slim, rectangle to-go box fit perfectly between my laptop and me while I perched on a bench, typing emails.
You only have to look at the line of students in front of The Mediterranean Cafe at noon to know they serve their food fast. And the service is fast – unbelievably fast. In the 30 seconds it took my friend Kelsey and me to navigate from the register to an empty table at the back, our food had already materialized in front of our chairs, as though the waiters had known where we were going to sit.
Maybe their speed and intuition is a magic secret imparted to all their employees upon initiation. Whatever the reason, Kelsey and I had steaming hot plates of curry and pita under our noses before you could say “hummus.”
The Mediterranean Cafe serves up Middle Eastern cuisine such as falafel, hummus, pita and dishes based around lamb, beef and chicken. They have a rotating schedule of specials that is always changing. I ordered the Wednesday special: Zidane’s Couscous – with lamb.
It came on a huge plate filled with chunks of lamb and vegetables on a bed of yellow couscous. The lamb was like a rich smoky sausage, while the couscous was buttery, soft perfection. The whole thing was so big I could barely eat half – before rushing off to work, of course.
Also, the walls of the Mediterranean Cafe are absolutely packed with tapestries, postcards, statues and all manner of souvenirs. If you look around for a few minutes, you might just be able to ram some color and culture into your institutionalized, detail-packed brain.
Who says you can’t be daring as well as fast with your lunch? Put some adventure back into quick eating, and try out some of Madison’s “fast food” from around the world today.
Sam Stepp is a senior majoring in journalism. If you follow and admire the Chew On This column, or aspire to be a fan, please feel free to email recipes, comments or suggestions to [email protected].
