El Basha Grill – Omaha Nebraska

Our son had a special dining treat in mind for us when we visited the family in Omaha.  He knew that we couldn’t find cuisine equal to this restaurant where we live in East Tennessee…

This is El Basha Grill.  This Mediterranean restaurant is attached to one end of a small strip shopping center.  As you can see, outdoor dining was an option…but we prefer to eat indoors. 

El Basha or The Basha was a term used in the early 1900's to describe elite society in the Turkish and Ottoman empires.  You can also hear the word pronounced as “Pasha” or “pashawat”.  Having the title of “Basha” indicated a certain degree of social class and wisdom.

El Basha is a small restaurant and the pace is a bit frenetic.  Customers order at the counter, they are given a number and then the food is delivered when it’s ready.  As per David II, he was surprised that we didn’t have to wait in line as that’s the norm at lunch here.  We probably lucked out as many people had taken Memorial Day week off for vacation…

Nana and grandson David III were both looking forward to a nice lunch!

The sunlight almost took out this photo!  David II, grandson Emmett Lee and Papa (me) were just glowing… Perhaps too much reflection off of my bald head!

El Basha’s menu is fairly broad as it covers Mediterranean cuisine from the eastern part of that area.  We tried the Lentil Soup first. ($3.50) It was excellent!  Laurie and I agreed that we could eat a bowl of this soup a couple of times a week without hesitation…

Other appetizers include Baba Ghanuje, a Mezza Plate, Falafel, Safeha, Lebneh, Foul M'Damas, Manaeesh Bel Zaatar, Grape Leafs and more!  I can’t pronounce most of these offerings and I had no idea what the majority of them were, but the menu does a nice job of defining what they consist of…

We did go for one appetizer… This was the Hummus Bitahini. ($5.50) This hummus dip is made with chickpeas, sesame paste, lemon juice and garlic. Then it’s drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and served with pita bread.  Laurie and I have always considered hummus to be ok but nothing to write home about... However, we couldn't get enough of this delectable version of the old standard!  It was excellent!

Given Emmett Lee’s limited food ‘likes’, we were curious to see what he’d order from this exotic (for him) menu.  He went for the Kid’s Burger on pita bread with French fries. ($7.25) He ate part of it and then stated that the burger tasted ‘funny’ or different.  He stopped eating it altogether when he learned that it was a lamb burger!

For the adults, the choice was simple.  Although our chosen sides were different, we all chose the Gyros Platter. ($8.85) The gyros meat was carved right off a vertical rotisserie like it should be.  It was thinly sliced and served with pita bread.  I left the onions off mine.  Laurie and I both asked for extra cucumber-yogurt based tzatziki sauce.  The gyros were excellent and the tzatziki sauce was good…even if it wasn’t as garlic laden as what we’d gotten used to when we lived in Chicago.

If El Basha Grill was located anywhere near us in East Tennessee, we’d eat there at least once a week!  David II did well by us by bringing us here for lunch… El Basha Grill is located at 7503 Pacific Street in Omaha Nebraska.  Phone: 402-934-6266.  Their website can be found at http://www.elbashagrill.com/index.html#. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for an Eastern Mediterranean lunch!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave