A Lebanese Café

The café around the corner from my photography school is called either the Time Box Café or El Rincón Libanés (The Lebanese Corner), depending on which sign one chooses to trust. But it's not known by neither of those two names. Everyone who frequents this spot at the corners of Río Nazas and Río Tigris simply says, "I'm going with the Lebanese guys for coffee." In fact, two Lebanese brothers own the place. They make a stiff espresso and a tasty cappuciono. And they do so whenever they feel like it: The hours of operation vary depending on the day, the hour, their mood and possibly the weather.

I'd been hankering for one of their tangy spinach pies for weeks—having recently visited more than once in vain, since the café was inexplicably closed once at noon and another time at 10 a.m.—and, when finally I found the café open, they had sold all their spinach pies for the day. Sadly, I ordered a cappuccino and waited for a friend to arrive. In the meantime, one of the brothers came to my table to further apologize for the lack of spinach pies and insisted I try his falafel. Actually, he gave me no choice: He said he'd make the sandwich regardless and if I didn't like it, I could leave it right on the table. Then he swore it would be the best falafel sandwich I'd ever had.

Having lived in New York where falafel is a dietary staple of busy on-the-go vegetarian types (such as I was), I've had a lot of falafel. So I wasn't expecting much from this corner café when the brother delivered a plate with a gorgeous falafel wrap teeming with perfectly fried falafel, lettuce, tomato, onion and dripping a thin, creamy salsa. The falafel balls of crushed fava beans were crispy and toasted brown on the outside and soft and golden on the inside. The pita was hearty but delicate and thin as a tortilla. And it was the best falafel I'd ever tried—a real treasure in Mexico, where finding good, exotic eats is not so easy as in New York.

Of course, I haven't been to Lebanon ... yet. But my cousin has married a beautiful woman from Beirut, so as soon as I have the chance to visit, I'll revisit this post to compare.