Noah Hale
Falafel sandwich and fries.
When brothers Houssem and Mohammed (“Ziggy”) Rzig took over Pyramid Café (505 Cordova Road, (505) 989-1378) in February 2006 after moving to Santa Fe from Tunisia, they planned to revamp the menu to make it more inclusively Mediterranean by adding Moroccan and Tunisian fare. With their eyes on expansion, they also opened a new location in Los Alamos’ historic Bathtub Row district that September, and both restaurants have been serving up some seriously good (and affordable) food ever since—so good, in fact, that Pyramid has firmly established itself as a go-to favorite among locals.
Even so, with so many new restaurants popping up in Santa Fe year after year and constantly enticing us with newness, it’s easy to forget the stand-by establishments like Pyramid. Maybe you’ve taken for granted how important Pyramid has been for the local eats game, or maybe you’ve just forgotten how good the food is over there? Allow SFR to refresh your memory.
Situated within the El Mercado shopping center on Cordova Road between The Center Barber Shop and the Vietnamese-forward Saigon Café, Pyramid’s atmosphere is warm and relaxed, and decorated with eclectic North African art in homage to the Rzigs’ Tunisian roots. Pyramid closes following lunch service between 2:30 and 4:30 pm, yet I arrived in the late afternoon with my companion thinking of our outing as a super-late lunch. Even though we were early for the dinner service, it didn’t take long for more guests to file in. Pyramid seems to attract three types of diners: the regulars, the picker-uppers and the curious and/or clueless. Having never dined there before, we were members of the latter camp, of course, but we were also in the minority. Most of the diners walking in after us looked like regulars, and many sped directly to their tables like they owned them. My companion and I agreed—this was a good sign.
To start, diners can choose between one, two or three appetizers ($5.95, $8.95 or $11.95) from a list of five. Our server recommended the hummus, baba ganoush and tabbouleh. When it comes to Mediterranean food, these are the big-name items, and we took her advice—although we made a mental note to try the dolmas and miswiya (a Tunisian charred green chile salad) next time. Our trio of appetizers came together on one plate with a side of pita bread for dipping and scooping. I immediately fell in love with the creamy texture of the hummus, almost always a surefire indicator that some unsung culinary genius in the kitchen knows the secret to a bona fide hummus is all about the freshness of the garbanzo beans and how long you cook them. With notes of tahini and garlic to whet the edge of every bite, I couldn’t have been more pleased, and the warm, soft pita bread paired equally well with all three appetizers, even if we did look a little silly trying to scoop up the tabbouleh like amateurs. An Eastern Mediterranean salad made mostly with parsley, mint, onions, tomatoes and drizzled with lemon juice, this tabbouleh was my favorite part of our mini mezze—the cucumbers in Pyramid’s version were crisp, the tomatoes were fresh and flavorful and the flashes of added parsley uplifted the flavor profile of the dish as a whole.
And this was only the beginning. Right as we began to worry we wouldn’t have enough pita left to finish our appetizers, our server delivered another plateful, along with a cup of hearty lamb stew ($6). While many lamb stews skimp on the meat, or worse—do very little to flavor it—Pyramid’s wasn’t stingy and featured an often-overlooked piquancy in a way that even made the veggies feel exciting.
For our main dishes, I ordered the combination kabob plate ($18.50) with gyro meat (lamb and beef in this case) and chicken, while my companion chose the Pyramid classic falafel sandwich with fries ($11.95). In both cases, the dishes arrived with generous portions. Having eaten a healthy amount during the starter course, my companion only made it about two bites into the sandwich, but the following day told me it was even tastier as leftovers. The fries were some of the best we’ve had anyplace; soft without being soggy, yet firm without being overly crispy. If I had to nitpick, I’d say the jasmine rice under my kabobs wasn’t as warm as I’d like, but this was easily fixed by whittling the gyro meat, roasted onions and peppers of the kabob off the skewer and onto the rice with tzatziki sauce moreover. After downing one kabob, though, I was utterly stuffed. I did manage to eat a piece of near-perfectly cooked chicken with a slice of grilled tomato and tzatziki sauce that made me want to run into the kitchen and kiss the chef, but I got ahold of myself.
As is the case for any meal, looking at the dessert menu magically conjured room for more food. Patrons can choose between Key lime pie, chocolate lava cake (both $4.95) or the Levantine baklava ($3.95). We decided to share the Key lime pie, which, we’d heard, has gained quite the favorable reputation in town. Watching our spoons sink dreamily through downy-soft layers of meringue, filling and the thin graham cracker crust became our meal’s bittersweet swan song. And I realized something: I might have come to Pyramid as an uninitiated newcomer, but from here on out I’m as good as any loyal regular.
