First of all, this restaurant has no connection with Al Pacino. Aside, of course, from being named after Al Pacino. They advertise Egyptian cuisine, which consists mainly of -- well, I have no idea. What you get at Al Pacino's is an interesting hybrid of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern.
You've got your pizza, your calzone, your assorted pasta dishes, and then you've got your shawarma, gyros, hummus, falafel and whatnot -- even kofta.
You can also find chicken fingers, buffalo wings, french fries, bottles of off-brand ketchup and things to satisfy your friends who came in just looking for a cheeseburger.
The hummus was watery but garlicky. The baba ghanouj had better texture. "Foul," despite the ominous name, was a new one on me, in the same category as the previous two, but instead of chickpeas or eggplant, it contained ordinary brown beans. It was tasty, but the bean thing is a little odd; this was the only one I didn't finish off with the pita bread.
The foul was followed by a nameless mystery dip, eerily orange, with feta cheese and something cheesy, garlicky and mysterious. I do hope the orange color didn't come from something chemical, though.
The falafel was very tasty. Herby on the inside, it had a smoky/spicy thing going on that I quite liked, even though it may well have been the flavor of frying oil about to go bad.
The grape leaves were served warm, which was odd, but it brought out the pronounced mint flavor Al Pacino's puts in the rice filling. They were possibly the high point of the meal for me.
Mint against non-lamb-related flavors always makes things seem cool, like raita or sweet dairy products, and the creamy rice was definitely warm. The contrast was basically an illusion, but a fun one.
-The downtown manifestation of Caf5f Isis (there are three in total) is on an acute angled corner, so there are lots of windows. The wall space that remains is covered in copies of things from Ancient Egypt, mostly bas-relief sculptures.
The service at Al Pacino's is usually very slow, especially if there are more than two parties in the place. If the place is nearly empty, you get your food in plenty of time.
On the entree front we have: calzone, kofta, gyro and something called 'natural pita.' The calzone was, well, huge. It had chicken, fresh spinach, mozzarella cheese, red onion, and capers, and it managed to taste somehow light and summery. I am still full as I write this, several hours later.
The kofta (a kind of casing-less sausage, or forcemeat) was a little overdone, but aside from that it was very tasty. It was seasoned well, served in a large folded pita with grilled vegetables that tasted very smokey. There was a creamy tahini sauce which, when spread over the kofta, made the meat nice and juicy. The curly fries on the side were, though incongruous, tasty as well.
Gyros -- oh, what can be said of gyros? This one earned no special points. It was the exact same sandwich as the kofta but with sliced gyro-meat. No surprises there.
The 'natural pita' was also the same sandwich, but this time with more grilled vegetables to substitute for meat, including eggplant and artichoke. They were tasty sandwiches all around. I've been to Al Pacino's a fair number of times over the years, and the food has never been normal, and it has never fit into any ethnic category. But when it finally made it to my table, it was always tasty.
There was a creamy pesto dish I remember fondly, a smoked salmon and caper pizza that I ordered because it was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard of, and a spicy chicken pasta with cream sauce that, I'm fairly sure, was listed as Cajun just to confuse the food ethnicity question even more.
Were I to go back, it would be at the beginning of dinner service, and I'd have grape leaves to start, eat some beguiling pasta dish myself and have my date order the kofta.
Al Pacino's Cafe II/Cafe Isis
900 Cathedral St.
Location: Mount Vernon
Serves American, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine.
Phone (410) 962-8859
Lunch, Dinner, Delivery, Takeout
