THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Saleem's

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Saleem's Restaurant Review:

THIS ESTABLISHMENT IS CLOSED Saleem's, which introduced Middle Eastern fare to St. Louis some 20 years ago, is a great compromise between exotic and safe. The restaurant is decorated to bring images of a luxurious tent, the kind set up near an oasis with friendly camels (an oxymoron, we know) hunkered down nearby. The patrons, family groups---kids wean off burgers onto this quite easily---students of all backgrounds, matched or mixed, or both, gossiping friends, don't crane to look at people who can't yet pronounce falafel or hummus. First courses are simple and reliable, things like feta cheese and olives or a rich hummus, generously seasoned with garlic and tahine. Salads wear only a little lemon juice, a dab of olive oil, nothing to throw fear into even the most sensitive eater. Lamb shish-kebab, or beef for the truly reluctant, comes as two large skewers, the meat tender and juicy, on a bed of particularly good rice, mixed with a little shredded radish. Falafel is well handled here, too, as is an excellent baklava. Beverage of choice is a red Greek Demestica whose rawness magically evaporates when faced with this fresh, seemingly simple food or Turkish coffee, here with fragrant cardamom rather than piles of sugar.