Gourmet Shish Kebab

On a stretch of Route 198 in Laurel that is littered with fast-food joints and the usual gray allotment of chains, a kebab house may not be the last thing you’d expect to find—anything is possible—but it’s definitely up there. This operation, housed in a bright but unlovely glass-walled building that was once leased by a McDonald’s but went essentially unused for years, turns out fine skewered lamb, chicken, and beef. Portions are atypically huge—a half-pound of halal meat per order, slow-cooked over charcoal. Tandoori chicken amounts to half a bird, christened with a light spice rub and a few squeezes of lemon, then given over to the flames. Six different curries, warmed by heat lamps, are also available, the best of which is the tomato-based chana, or chickpea curry. A house combo, at $11.95, makes for an exceptionally cheap and satisfying meal for two—two kebabs plus two curries plus an order of either the better-than-average rice or a round of the slightly sweet, nicely fluffy tandoori bread.
—Todd Kliman, January 28, 2005