December 2008

Fill up on falafel

The Organic Falafel Stand

by Elizabeth Brinkama
photos by Julie Wiatt

Location, location, location!

In business, they say location is everything and in the most unlikeliest of spots you can now eat well, eat local and eat with good conscience. In the parking lot of RS Automotive, where Grant and Carroll Avenues intersect with East-West Highway and a mere stones’ throw from the TPSS Co-op, there is a rather unobtrusive catering truck offering 100% vegan fare that is pleasing to the palate, your wallet, and Mother Earth.

Yaron Semititsky serves up tasty, healthy Middle Eastern fare in Takoma Junction.

Owned by Olive Tree Inc., the Organic Falafel Stand is the brainchild of Yaron Semititsky. The ingredients in his vegan menu are predominantly organic and all carryout containers are either recyclable and/or biodegradable. Open for a mere two months, the community is already embracing its new neighbor as evidenced by the exchanges on area list serves. “Business has been great and steadily growing,” said Nina Sutcliffe, late of Savory who now works at the stand on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

click on images for larger photo

falafel

tofu grill

A vegan Middle Eastern meal

Nina Sutcliff is ready to take your order

In the interest of full foodie disclosure, I am neither vegan nor vegetarian. I am a devout omnivore who will pretty much try anything once, as long as it is no longer moving and doesn’t remotely resemble what it was in life. However, not being a fan of the bean (unless it’s green and not named Lima), I have never tested the falafel waters. In point of fact, I have never really given tofu a fair shake either. I know…. I truly put my L. A. roots to shame.

On an unforgivably frigid evening when I first visited the stand, the days’ soup offering was Hearty Vegetable. A veritable farmer’s market in a bowl, this perfectly blended creamy soup is laden with broccoli and cauliflower, zucchini and summer squash, onion and garlic, celery, carrots, tomatoes and thickened with navy beans. It is the perfect antidote for those blustery, chilled-to-the-bone winter days.

The Takoma Combo Grill is a whole grain pita stuffed with curry infused tofu, grilled onion, garlic and vegetable salad. The Organic Falafel is a whole wheat pita stuffed with crispy mounds of falafel in a bed of vegetable salad. Both are served with a tahini sauce on the side. While not ready to completely abandon my epicurean ways, I found both sandwiches, the tofu in particular, really quite tasty.

A side of organic fries is prepared using heart healthy canola oil. Hot out of the fryer and sprinkled with salt and pepper (gently or liberally, upon request), this is a fairly guilt-free pleasure with no catsup needed. Staples like the Baba Ganouj, Hummus, and Tabouli Salad, accompanied by warm whole wheat pita, don’t disappoint.

Though normally a strong brew, the Turkish coffee Café-em-hel can be brewed light to order. With a pinch of cardamom, this is a much more satisfying alternative to No-Doz when you have to pull an all-nighter. The fresh squeezed lemonade spritzer is a pleasant reminder of summer and those refreshing lemon and lime fizzes you seek out at the local festivals.

Nothing on the menu is over $8.00 with the average price around $4.00. Have a hankering for Yaron’s amazing soups during off hours? Not to worry, you can find the daily soup selection at the Co-op, delivered fresh every morning.

The Organic Falafel Stand
7224 Carroll Avenue
301-512-7535
Monday through Friday
11:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.