Supping at Sesame Moe’s - Manhattan Beach

Let’s start with a disclaimer: Sesame Moe’s décor is a down-to-earth mood-lit middle eastern. The key word here is MOOD lighting. Don’t let my poorly-lit photos fool you. The food is prettily presented, and I swear it’s not all one color. Now on to my actual review…

When Ali Baba shouted “Open sesame!” he got a cave. When I shouted “Open sesame!” I got a restaurant in Manhattan Beach. And when you think about it, Sesame Moe’s wasn’t so different from sesame cave. After all, both hail from the Middle East, and when you think about it, both were troves of hidden treasure. One of them just happened to be the edible kind.

Since I’m spilling my guts about this buried treasure of a restaurant, I might as well start with some truth serum. The Almaza is a good authentic middle eastern beer, according to my friend who would know. It’s light like the Chinese beers but smoother and actually goes really well with the food.

If you’re hunting for a Mediterranean treasure of an appetizer, start from the west and work your way east. Remember the last time you had Spanish tapas? Did you like the patatas bravas of the west? If yes, then you’ll love the Fried Potatoes of the east. A crispier version of our beloved home fries plus some cool cilantro and a dash of garlic. Tasty but palate-neutral, this one’s a crowd pleaser all around.

The fried potatoes were sweetly familiar, but the Kibbi was like a precious stone I’ve never seen. Meat in a shell of more meat? Yes please! Just shout “Open sesame!” at the shell of beef and bulgar, dip it in the yogurt sauce, and take a bite to unearth the spicy, flavorful ground beef and pine nut mixture inside.

Enough with the apps, let’s move on to the meat of the story. We stuck to the classic entrees, but the value of every diamond depends on the quality, and the Beef Shwarma with thinly-sliced strips of steak and a side of heavenly Hummus is definitely not a diamond in the rough.

The beef is a stone that shines, and the Chicken Tawook glows just as brightly. These chunks are juicy off the skewer and covered in fluffy clouds of the greatest garlic sauce ever. If Ali Baba had found nothing but that garlic sauce recipe in his cave, it might have made him richer than all that treasure.

Like any good story, my meal at Sesame Moe’s has a strong beginning, a juicy middle, and a sweet ending that doesn’t leave you hanging. Ali Baba’s ending was a happy one, and for me, my ending of Pistachio Ice Cream with a flaky crust of Baklava left no room for complaints.

I may love the finer things in life, but I’m definitely a lot nicer about it than Ali Baba was. That guy found his treasure and shouted “Close sesame!” so that no one could ever claim what was now his. But I wouldn’t dream of letting something so special go unnoticed, which if why I’ll be telling everyone how much I love Sesame Moe’s. Don’t close Sesame, don’t ever close!