Baraka Café

The BARAKA CAFE, aka the AZZY TOON CAFE, is a petit, funky, Tunisian, hole-in-the-wall on Pearl Street about two blocks off Mass. Ave. in Central Square. It serves the best food I've had in a long time. The owner, whose name I think is Elleya, is a gourmet pastry chef at a four star restaurant in Wellesley on the side. On Pearl street, she is a fabulous cook. We went for lunch and started with cold beet soup -- a tasty borscht gorgeously rose in color and flavored with Tunisian black caraway seeds. Then we enjoyed a dish of Karentika or savory chick pea custard. It was light yet rich and very delicious. This came with a watercress, carrot, and green olive Tapenade or salad and a piece of toasted flat bread containing anise seeds called Harissa. To drink I had green tea with mint -- very refreshing.

Other dishes include Beten jel Mechoui of smoked eggplant: "An Algerian classic with roasted red peppers, laban, garlic & flat parsley with marinated olives, olive oil & vinegar" and D'Jaj or grilled chicken breast marinated in North African spices. The deserts include Fruit salad with orange and rose petal syrup and, of course, the pastry du jour.

The menu is small because Elleya likes to buy everything fresh each day. The place is small, so small that she and her assistant do some of the food preparation along side the dining area. And the prices are small; nothing on the lunch menu was more than $4.95. The ambiance is very comfortable. They were playing old Billy Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald records while we were there.

And the food is superb!

-Kate Gyllensvard, Central Square denizen