June 14, 2022 by Mark H. Anbinder in 14850 Dining

This week, we’re paying a visit to Loumies in Collegetown. This new counter-service eatery on Dryden Road features Levantine snacks, sandwiches, and meals. Like most middle eastern cuisines, Levantine cooking is hearty and easily enjoyed for a vegetarian meal, but there’s plenty of meat to satisfy the most devout carnivore, as well.

Levantine cuisine comes from the Levant, the region east of the Mediterranean that includes many of the oldest civilizations on the planet, and the food at Loumies features dishes that would be familiar to those who enjoy Lebanese, Moroccan, and other cooking styles from the middle east and North Africa.

The savory hand pies are a great start — they’re two for $9, a meal for one or snack or appetizer for two or more. There’s a vegan Za’atar, a cheese pie, or a sumac chicken or a satisfying beef pie with pomegranate molasses. (During the slow summer stretch, they’re not making lots of pies ahead of time, so they’re not discarding too much food. Call ahead if you’d like something specific.)

The rows of hand pies ready to enjoy at Loumies. 14850 Photos by Mark H. Anbinder.

That sumac chicken, or musakhan, also makes an appearance as an oversized sandwich between two halves of a handmade pita. At $14 it feels like an expensive sandwich, until you realize it’s easily two meals worth of food. There are also $9 and $14 vegetarian cheese and vegan hummus sandwiches, or a hummus and kufta sandwich featuring spiced meatballs.

The sumac chicken sandwich at Loumies.

Simmered seven-spice bone-in chicken and kufta meatballs feature on the list of main dishes, served over warm spiced rice. All of the meats are halal. The rest of the list of mains, though, is vegan and gluten free, including a savory okra stew that gets some sweetness from the tender baby okra they use.

The Loumies okra stew is vegan, gluten free, and hearty.

For warm weather, we’re appreciating the peasant salad, a generous serving of diced tomato and cucumber with lemon juice, olive oil, and spices, and we’re looking forward to trying the lentil and freekeh soups when it cools off.

Loumies has a cooler of Poppi apple cider vinegar infused sodas, and they offer hot or iced coffee for just a buck.

Find Loumies at 114 Dryden Road in Central Collegetown or at loumies.com, or give them a call at 917-992-8427 and tell them you heard about them here.

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