I've always loved food, but hunting down delicious places to eat didn't become an obsession until after college (having a steady paycheck and more free time helps!). I lived in Yorba Linda for the first 18 years of my life and recently moved back after spending time in Irvine (yay!) and West LA (ew!). I had heard about Rosine's Mediterranean Cafe back when I was still in my teen years (pause for wistful thoughts of youth and not needing anti-aging cream). The extent of my culinary palette at this point was CHINESE FOOD, AMERICAN FOOD and ITALIAN. All I knew about Mediterranean food was that hummus was delicious and pita bread was tasty. I first had Greek food from a private chef in London (tiny living room converted into private restaurant, old Greek wife cooking in kitchen, old Greek husband serving, celebrity autographs and pictures plastered all over the walls) and came away knowing I loved hummus. In college, I started going to Daphne's and slowly got introduced to gyros, baklava, pilaf and the like. After college, Zankou's Chicken and Chicken Dijon fell onto my food radar and broadly categorized "Mediterranean Food" became one of my favorites.
As to be expected, when I moved home I knew I had to visit Rosine's.
This is their shawarma plate. I actually got rotisserie chicken with wheat pilaf and hummus, but the picture came out funny, so I'm going with the shawarma picture instead. There's a salad and tabbouleh at the back of the plate. The best part of the meal was the garlic sauce (of Zankou's fame) that came with the chicken. I soon ran out of chicken and pita and pilaf to eat it with and resorted to eating it straight from the small ramekin it came in. Eight hours later, my mom came in my room and asked me why it smelled so strongly of garlic. I blushed and told her to go away and acted like I had no idea. Then I ran to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and used mouthwash... again. It was worth it.
Now I want more garlic sauce. Hummus will have to step aside because garlic sauce is winning! ):
