Generally, the things you get from grandma aren't that useful, like a birthday check for $5, or a photo of an aunt you never knew, along with an estimate that framing it should cost you "around $5". Getting the real goods from granny, the owner of Souk.

Bringing pan-Mediterranean flair to H Street, Souk's a cozy, exotically tiled, pillow-strewn nook sporting an open kitchen where the owner himself preps recipes passed down from his Moroccan grandma, who cooked professionally for a French colonial family and exclusively served dishes made with non-canned, healthy ingredients -- as opposed to Grandmama, who exclusively served vicious slam dunks. Starting things off are apps like Zaalouk (Moroccan-style eggplant w/ tomatoes/olive oil) and Sambousick (pastries w/ ground beef/pine nuts), plus greens like the shrimp/feta/watermelon/arugula "Souk Salad", and the more traditional tomatoes/cucumbers/scallions Fatoush, a diet of which will counter-intuitively leave your toush looking quite svelte. Heartier fare includes sandwiches like the grilled lamb sausage/peppers/olives/zaalouk sauce Mergues, and the spiced beef, overflowing pita Kafta; or stuff your mug with entrees like beef/chicken kebobs w/ tomato reduction and basmati, the grilled swordfish/cherry tomatoes/sharmola sauce Fish Tagine, or the lamb chops/grilled veggies/dried fruits/onion saffron sauce Kotlet, which you should order again upon a return visit, just to say "Welcome back, Kotlet".

Though they're currently drier than the Sahara, a liquor license is in the works; once it comes it'll allow you to put to use the one valuable thing granny gave you, a ferocious hankering for the sauce.

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Souk

Published: November 2, 2009 at 4:00am EST

1208 H St NE

Washington, DC 20002

202.658.4224

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