The first time I’ve ever heard of Moustache, a Middle Eastern restaurant with three locations dispersed in the city, was when I was sleuthing around for a dinner spot and came across my friend, Archana’s post about it on her food blog. I feel like I’m never disappointed when I follow her good taste(buds).
I went there the same night with a friend to the West Village location. It was small and buzzy and the aroma coming out of the kitchen (which is barely separated from the dining area, and in fact, overlooks it), was intoxicating. We promptly ordered a Moustache pitza (their Middle Eastern version of pizza!), and the Merguez sandwich, made of spicy lamb sausage, and two big glasses of mint tea.
The pitza is unlike traditional pizza with tomato sauce. Instead, the mozzarella cheese is topped over a mix of roasted red bell pepper, tomato, onion, parsley, and chili. It’s unlike any pizza I’ve ever had, and soo good. The Merguez sandwich is cooked to perfection and topped with onion and tomato but the tahini sauce really brings it together.
My friend, Samia, wanted a little more spice and the waiter gave us a small plate of chili paste (harissa). If you like your food spice, you HAVE to ask for this. We topped it on our pitza and sandwich. Later, Samia asked the chef what’s in it and he said it takes a long time to make and started listing the ingredients for us (he mentioned a mix of coriander, cumin, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, and of course, chili). When he saw how much we were enjoying it, he went to the back and put a generous amount of harissa in a plastic container for us to take home!
I never did this before but I was so impressed with the food here, I decided I HAD to go to the East Village location — the very next night. I had plans with another friend and kept warning him this place looked tiny. I was totally wrong. If you account for the back ‘garden’ space, this place is considerably bigger than the one in the West Village. The back makes you feel you actually might be somewhere in the dessert. It’s set up like a tent, with streaming lanterns and Arabic painted across the wall.
I was pleasantly surprised that the food was identical and just as good as the other location.
OK fine. Maybe I went ONE more time with two more friends. This time, we also ordered a juicy chicken sandwich:
The only thing about the East Village location is they need to hire more wait staff. The food at both places do take a long time to come out (I really think it’s because they take their time to make the food so good!), but the service in the East Village each time I was there was extremely slow. I realized it was because both times there was only one poor old man serving both the front and the back of the restaurant. Even to get water took a while, and the second time he completely forgot about the spicy sauce. The first time I went there, he actually came and apologized for the slow service. Hopefully, he’ll get more help, because this place is so worth coming back to for more. Totally support the combo of tasty and relatively inexpensive food (everything on the menu costing between $5-$14!).
Restaurant Info:
Moustache – West Village
90 Bedford St.,
nr. Barrow St.
New York, NY 10014
212-229-2220
Moustache – East Village
265 East 10th Street
New York, NY 10009
212-228-2022
x
Shy
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There is one on 105th and Lexington, too 🙂
I LOVE this place! Their Moustache pitza is so tasty and so are their chicken and seafood pitzas. I’ve been to the west village location but I def wanna try the east village for its garden space.
the Moustache pitza is delish! much more tempting than it sounds 🙂
this sounds so delicious! I wish I lived closer to NYC, if only for the food 🙂
You must visit! There are countless restaurants here, and so much to do!