CALGARY: Ali Baba Kabob House

If you’ve ever searched anything online about Calgary restaurants or especially coffee, you’ll see posts by John Manzo. Like me, he likes eating, and telling people about it.

Of late, he’s been really excited about Ali Baba Kabob House in my old hood, so of course, I had to go try.

Ali Baba is on the corner of 14th Street and 16th Avenue SW just down the street from the best pizza in town.

The owner is from Kabul, Afghanistan and says business has been pretty good after being open only two weeks.

Half of the menu is mouth-watering kabobs; the other half is burgers and chicken wings. Pretty smart, I think, since the Red Mile crowd does tend to stagger down this way for McDonald’s and donairs.

I ordered a barg kabob dinner ($9.49) to go. And on John Manzo’s recommendation, asked for qabeli rice (also spelled kabilee and qabali) instead of the regular rice it comes with. I was charged an extra dollar, but it was worth every penny.

The fluffy qabeli rice, with shredded carrots and raisins, has a subtle sweet smokiness to it. It’s the best basmati I’ve ever had. Ever. Seriously. I don’t love raisins. And I’m Chinese; I’ve eaten a lot of rice. This is damn fine rice.

The barg kebob was great, but I will admit I hardly went out on a limb ordering marinated pieces of filet mignon.

The dinners (ranging from $6.99 to $11.49) all come with a side iceberg salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and sliced onions — which go well with the rice and meat — and a square piece of “Afghani naan.” The bread was much drier and chewier than Indian naan but I grew to quite enjoy it.

I don’t have much of a sweet tooth but there are quite a few pastries behind the glass counter, as well as a traditional Afghani pudding called firnee.

The counter guy said the half dozen tables were full at lunch on a recent weekday, so it looks like it’s getting busy already, which is well-deserved, but you can always get your kabobs to go.

I’m looking forward to trying the kofta kabob (marinated lean ground beef), tikka kabob (leg of lamb), and the choppan (lamb chops). Yes, I plan on returning a lot. And I’m sure I’ll bump into John Manzo at some point.

Ali Baba Kabob House, 1602-14th St. SW, Calgary, (403) 541-1115. Open daily from 11 a.m.-11 p.m., and until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

UPDATE Oct. 30, 2008: I couldn’t stay away a week! This time, I got the Sultani dinner, which comes with one tenderloin and one kofta kabob. The kofta (marinated lean ground beef shaped into a kabob) is fantastic with a slight spicy kick. I think I’m going to happily work my way through all the items here.

I tried the dough drink, yogurt diluted with water then flavoured with salt and dried mint, but it’s not quite my thing. Worth a try though if you’ve never had it.