Alfanoose’s Kafta Sandwich: Worth The Nearly $10 Price Tag?
If you’ve worked in the Financial District, chances are you’ve heard of Alfanoose on Maiden Lane (btw. Broadway & Nassau). It’s something of an institution in that it’s been there since 1999 and at some point earned recognition for having some of the best falafel in the city. I am not really into their falafel which is in a long cylinder rather than the usual orb, offing the ratio of fluffy inside to crust, and is a couple of dollars more than you’re going to pay at any street cart.
That was the only sandwich I’d eaten there, but then a couple of weeks ago Lunch’er Deep once again recommended the kafta kebab sandwich tweaked to include fried onions. Ground lamb and beef cooked over charcoal sounded pretty great, but would it redeem Alfanoose?
A word of warning that although they’re serving items normally found at a street cart, you’re going to wait a bit to get your food as the guys working the counter aren’t exactly a well-oiled machine. My kafta was cooked to order so I couldn’t really complain about the 10 minute wait.
The sandwich ($7.95 plus an extra 75 cents for the fried onions) looked pretty great as tahini was ladled over it and it got a squirt of hot sauce. Besides two patties of kafta there was romaine lettuce, tomato, pickles, and what I think was pickled beet. It was a messy sandwich, but I’d have to say the floppy pita-type bread held up even though you had to eat it like a taco or risk a torrent of tahini in your lap.
I was a little surprised at the amount of meat in here. There were two large rectangular patties of kafta equating roughly to eating a double burger. While at first the sandwich didn’t look very massive it definitely filled me up to the large amount of protein. I’ll admit this was a great sandwich and the addition of fried onions was a good call. However, I don’t know how likely I would be to shell out close to $10 for this again.
If you’re in the mood for something a little more exotic than a burger and don’t mind paying for the privelege of ample seating, the kafta sandwich at Alfanoose will do you right.
Alfanoose, 8 Maiden Lane (btw. Broadway & Nassau), (212) 528 – 4669
Posted by Andrea H at 9:30 am, February 27th, 2012 under Alfanoose, Financial District, Middle Eastern, Sandwiches, Turkish.
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Yes, there is a wait for that sandwich–I always end up waiting a bit longer than co-lunchers that order hummus/falafel sandwiches.. but it’s worth it!