Heyooooo!
A quick edition of The Move today; I’ve got a full slate of deadlines this coming week, including my first full-length restaurant review for Hour Magazine. That will be about Adelina, an Italian restaurant here in Detroit that’s got me feeling a bunch of different things. I didn’t get into food writing to be a critic, but it’s a responsibility I take seriously, so I want to dedicate the proper amount of time.
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L.A. ✈️ Detroit
Yes—I miss the Mexican food in Los Angeles. Fuck man, I miss it dearly. I miss all the delicious and starkly unique al pastor that sweeps through the city. I miss the confounding, big honkin’ baked potato topped with asada and cheese at Angel’s Tijuana Tacos. I miss ordering the impossibly crunchy shrimp tacos from Mariscos Jalisco with a side of raw oysters. I miss breakfast burritos made with soujuk and nopales with egg. I miss ordering the dark, chicken mole tacos from Guisados after an afternoon Dodgers game, and, as you probably have heard, I miss eating citrusy fruit cups filled with mango, coconut, and pineapple.
The trade off here in Detroit? Elite Middle Eastern food—a vast collection of cultures and cuisines that is currently blowing my mind. Excellent shawarma chains, giant clam-shelled doner kebabs, toum everywhere, and wonderfully chewy Yemen bread have filled the Mexico-shaped void within me. Much like Mexican food is the lifeblood of Los Angeles dining, Arabic food pumps the big, bloody, beating heart of Detroit’s food scene. And the best Middle Eastern food I’ve had so far? It’s at Leila, a modern Lebanese restaurant in downtown Detroit.
Leaving Leila (sounds like a movie), I found myself wondering if this was the best Middle Eastern dinner I’ve ever had. Everything—the baba ghanouj, tabbouleh, batata harra, the lahmajeen, kibbeh niyee—operated on such a spectacular and elite level. I have met the people helming Leila’s greatness, and they are special—dedicated not just to outstanding hospitality, but to the choosing the best ingredients they can get their hands on.
So far, Leila is my favorite restaurant here, and I don’t see it being toppled anytime soon. I mean, just take a look at this kibbeh:
For now, though, I’d like to highlight a singular dessert here in Detroit—the Lebanese sundae ($10). Lately it’s been hot as hell outside, and with Summer just getting started, you should be on the lookout for new and exciting desserts to put into your cooling station rotation. Enter the sundae at Leila—a stunning, sweet, floral treat that simply features ashta, candy floss, and crushed pistachio.
Ashta is a clotted cream/pudding flavored with rose water that’s popular in Lebanese culture. Allegedly, it’s got the texture of mascarpone, and it’s typically used like a whipped cream in Middle Eastern cooking. Naturally, ashta makes a pretty wonderful base for ice cream. At Leila, ashta is churned and frozen to achieve a smooth, custardy texture that’s very much like the custard you see at so many soft serve spots around town. This isn’t like the stretchy and elastic Middle Eastern booza, but rather a traditional, American ice cream. It’s smooth and subtle, and hits the same way a well-made vanilla ice cream does.
The ashta ice cream is topped with plenty of candy floss (AKA cotton candy) and pistachio, making for pretty wild looking dessert. The pistachios are piled on, but the way its crushed means you get even bites of crunchy pistachio dust throughout. The ashta is tempting in its simplicity, and the candy floss adds the necessary amount of sugar for this dessert; it also carries the bonus of eye appeal and texture.
The Lebanese sundae is only 3 things—but those 3 things are treated with exceptional care, thought, and technique. The final result is something stunning and simple. The flavors are subtle—nothing loud and confusing or too rich, which is often a problem with modern desserts. That’s because Leila practices restraint like a religious tenet.
The Lebanese sundae only costs $10, and it perfectly encapsulates what Leila is about—incredible Arabic food in a modern restaurant setting. This sundae is a must-order, and one of Detroit’s greatest desserts. Go get it this Summer.
Thanks for reading The Move! Eventually, I’m going to write something more comprehensive about Leila, but right now paid work is calling me. Speaking of paid, hey! Upgrade to a paid subscriber why don’t ya? If you’re new here, you’ll unlock all kinds of articles from the past. Posts become locked after a month or two, and the only way to revisit them is by upgrading.
Thanks so much, and I’ll see ya next week!