Imagine a New Yorker lamenting how the city used to be less systematic, more messy and, frankly, soiled, and how much they miss it. I rolled my eyes at this urban nostalgia. But now I realize that part of me, here in little senior Madison, longs for a low-slung, one- or two-person service kitchen, not much larger than a counter that maybe doesn’t get much attention (or time). for), say, a fancy custom website or some other frills. They are becoming increasingly scarce here.
Step in Bin, a very tiny storefront on Regent Street that was the Biryani campus for years, and you go back to the days of tight kitchens run by owners. And I’m here for it.
Kosharie Madison has a place for Egyptian dishes, as well as several main dishes on the university menu. It’s the scarce city in the upper Midwest that strives to demonstrate greater diversity and yet serves so many ethnicities in its dining landscape.
The dish of the same name, hailed as Egypt’s national dish, is rightly at the top of the menu. Kosharie (English spelling varies) is a seemingly random mix of rice, chickpeas, lentils, pasta, broken spaghetti, sour tomato sauce and a pile of fried onions on top. You may have seen Anthony Bourdain praise it in a 2008 episode No reservation.
As we wait for spring to lift us out of the winter doldrums, a dish like kosharie promises to sustain those who eat it. It’s scorching, hearty and filling, and reheats well if you happen to have leftovers – and you almost certainly will. The dish has Indian roots and Italian references.
Try this with a few aggressive shakes of the bagel seasoning if the onions are no longer crispy; what is another cultural infusion?
The biryani at Kosharie is spicier than the fluffy Indian preparations I have eaten. This is another dish that warmed me to my core as I sat in the tiny, drawn-out dining room. The diced lamb was hearty and simply seasoned, with onion mixed vegetables to enhance the flavor.
For dinner, it’s best to order eggplant parmigiana hoagie; I ordered takeout. The flavors were good, but the texture of the eggplant had softened by the time I unwrapped it. The less time it spends in foil, the better.
Other menu items fared better for takeout. The gyro wrap, filled with some delicate, shredded lettuce, still delivered chunks of crispy gyro meat with chilly tzatziki. Even better was the chicken shawarma wrap, piquant and well seasoned. Fairly standard Crimped Fries, salt and pepper, are an optional addition. Other dishes that are familiar to the English include fried chicken and Philly cheesecake, if you’re interested.
Fawzy Mohamed, the hard-working owner of Kosharie, served me every dish I enjoyed during my visits. Mohamed, who has worked in American and Italian-style restaurants throughout his career, now has the opportunity to cook dishes from his Egyptian heritage through his own restaurant, and I will be ecstatic to remain on this site from now on. Everything that comes from buttery, grilled Kosharie pita pieces, sprinkled generously with dried herbs, will make your guests feel good.
I’ll tell you what I’ll eat when I come back for the first time: beef kefta. Three ground beef cigars, strongly spiced and tasting only of a hint of grilled charcoal, placed on a mound of rice and roasted vegetables, and the whole thing is reminiscent of home cooking at its best. Simple, comforting and satisfying.
Kefta is a hearty meal on its own, but pair it with a refreshing cilantro-heavy tabbouleh salad and you might not see me eating anything else for three consecutive meals, and happily so. The additional order of falafels is also a solid value play, but would probably be better packaged; it’s arid.
All this, and that’s not to mention the desserts – the all-butter baklava requires warming up to really enjoy it, although the only thing the carrot cake needs is a fork. Add to the food the charm of Mohamed and his wife, the only employees I have ever met. When I drove by this summer and saw Mohamed standing in the doorway of his house taking a well-deserved breath, I swore Next time would be my first visit. Now that I’ve crossed that threshold, it will take much less to bring me back.
Bin
1437 Saint Regent
608-467-3991; kosharie.com
11:00-21:00 Mon-Thurs, 11:00 2:00 Fri-Sat; working hours may vary when the University of Warsaw is not in session; $3-20
This article appeared in the February 3, 2022 issue of Isthmus under the headline “Down to Earth: Kosharie finds identity in a vessel of the same name and more”
