The name Petra may not mean much to you – either Petra Bakery and Restaurant, in Madison, or Petra, the archaeological wonder of the Middle East. But you’d probably recognize a rock-carved building by its appearance in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and a tiny icon of archaeological Petra decorates the restaurant’s sign.
The Petra restaurant opened in 2021 at the Odana Road store, where The Nile operated for about a decade. The dining room is expansive and often understaffed for dinner service, even on weekend evenings. Guests can take any seat and start eating.
It’s a shame more people don’t know about this restaurant because every time I visited the food was really delicious. But maybe it’s for the best since I only saw one employee working upstairs. Still, she got the job done, even with multiple tables under her watch.
One of the best meals you can eat in Petra is to fill the table and let everyone out into the city. The menu consists of many starters and side dishes, salads and sandwiches (or wraps), and dinners are in the form of bowls or grilled specialties.
Petra often bakes her own cakes, so buy one or two to start. I liked one with a flavorful za’atar spice blend and finely shredded Arabian cheese (squeaky and unassuming, also known as Chicago cheese).
All the favorites of Levantine cuisine are presented on an extremely generous platter with mixed appetizers: creamy hummus and smoked baba ghanouj, and a silky, garlicky dip called muthawama.
Side Foul, a hearty chickpea-centric dish, is the excuse you need to buy a pack of homemade bread to go. A drop of olive oil is floral and aromatic. The dish is pronounced more like “full”, which you will be.
The similarity between Petra’s sambousa (vegetable-stuffed pastries) and the Indian samosa is not accidental; they are related. Order them and you’ll be treated to an armful of them, and they’re a little spicier than most samosas I’ve had.
Traditional falafel is never a bad choice, especially when wrapped in a Petra pita to create a crunchy/chewy punch with double the flavor. But if you want more complexity, try Petra’s stuffed falafel. Inside the renowned crispy chickpea pancake there is a center of onion, sumac and chili paste; Sumac in particular gives it a welcome tang of tartness.
Beef and lamb arayas may not be well known to the average white Midwesterner, but if you’ve ever eaten dorado tacos, you’ve eaten something similar. Arayes are uncomplicated, just a narrow pocket of dough filled with seasoned minced meat. But there are plenty of them made to order and there’s more of that muthawama to dip them into.
I would need to do more research to fully understand the history of the phenomenon known as the Zinger, which goes beyond Petra – it is chicken fingers, muthawama, lettuce, cheese and pickles wrapped in a lean saj flatbread (think Indian paratha or Chinese hash browns), and served with chips. Yes, a chicken shawarma saj wrap may be a more conventional, or perhaps even better, choice, but it seems Middle Eastern restaurants in the Midwest don’t often get the opportunity to play this way, and Zinger is certainly fun.
Kuftah (minced beef/lamb meatballs) or shrimp kebabs provide a nice char, and honestly, these dinners contain a lot of food – not just a pile of rice. The mixture of beef and lamb in the kuftah is dosed with conventional spices, but first I noticed and appreciated the nutmeg.
One of the nice things about a menu like Petra’s is that you can have any type of meal you want. (Vegetarians also have a good option.) Eat a kebab, roll it up, dip into a flatbread, or dive into a bowl of mixed shawarma and sip a cup of Arabic tea. Be sure to add mint and sage leaves. Finally, add lovely squares of baklava or a nougat Turkish delicacy that’s so much better than Cadbury’s. If you’re already a fan, you know. If Petra is completely unfamiliar to you, take a leap of faith. You’ll be glad you did.
Petra Bakery and Restaurant
6119 Odana Road, 608-274-1788
petrabakeryrestaurant.com
11:00-19:30 Mon-Thurs, 11:00-20:00 Fri-Sat.
$3-26
