Carmel Haifa

I worked at one time as a cook for a Middle Eastern man in New Hope, Pennsylvania. He did classical French food in his restaurant, not Middle Eastern foods. I've worked in many white table cloth restaurants and a few soul food restaurants, I know a bit about good ingredients, either Middle Eastern in origin or locally gathered, what's fresh, like homemade Harissa sauce made with olive oil, garlic, roasted hot red pepper and lemon juice, plus, rotisserie spun marinated lamb, veal and beef, or chicken or vegetarian kebab, cooked over smoldering hard wood coals. All prepared with love and smiles... That energy alone is what brought me to this several month old restaurant in Morris Plains, New Jersey. I was hungry and wanted to taste the heat that surrounded the place.
Set on an ambiguous street, directly across from the bustling NJ Transit station, this likeable restaurant boasts Middle Eastern comfort food without saying a word. The scent of natural wood charcoal is evident in the un-air-conditioned space of about 150 square feet. The grill is my focus here, although large hunks of lamb and veal turn on spits, giving off little bursts of fat and natural juices, which collects in a pan under the rotating meats. The front window is spotlessly clean and the open kitchen shares in a thorough cleaning when I walked in this afternoon. The owner was carefully cleaning the refrigerator case and each internal section making sure it gleamed. I often stop here because the restaurant is that clean. In the past, I used to drive down to Paterson, NJ for Middle Eastern food and a glance at the Great Falls... but that food, although delicious at the time never sat well with my stomach. This little gem of a restaurant in Morris Plains uses good local fatty lamb for their shish kebab sandwich. It is grilled over natural hardwood coals that I smelled from the street and then more so the moment I entered the restaurant. There is a sign on the menu that reads just that: "we only use real natural charcoal". The scent of lamb fat on hardwood charcoal is familiar to me. Recently I grilled some local baby lamb rubbed with garlic and thyme. The spices were different, but the smell of baby lamb is the same. The owner, like an old friend, greets me warmly although I only recognized the kerchief-veiled woman. She looks up at smiles at me, I smile, her husband who is cleaning by the window smiles too. They all know why I am here. I usually order the meat that is swirling so enticingly in front of me. This rotisserie cooked meat is then stuffed into a pita which, when sliced open is added with lettuce, pickled onions, Harissa paste, tahini sauce and the slices of veal and beef... but today, I want a grilled lamb kebab sandwich. Sizzling hot marinated lamb, cooked over hardwood coals, oily hot pepper paste, tahini, lettuce and chopped pickles.... Yum.


Carmel Haifa 682 Speedwell Avenue Morris Plains, NJ 07950
(862) 242-8918