This deli’s in the back corner of a grocery that is about as organized as a freshman-year locker before final exams. With enough time and patience, however, you will probably be able to find just about any canned or jarred item that exists in the Middle East. The center of the store is a working meat market where sub-primal cuts are broken down by a team of five men. The smell is one you must get used to, but if you want authentic, it’s a small price to pay.

During lunch, you’ll find Middle Eastern businessmen lined up for the daily specials, kebabs, and salads. You’ll have to ask for the menu—most people who eat there know exactly what they want. The hummus is the stand-out here, as well as rice dishes, long-cooked with meat (a different one is featured every day). If you don’t mind the wait, lamb chops are spectacular when prepared to order, and don’t dry out like most everything else sitting in the steam-table buffet. But even among those, lamb shawarma is hard to argue with at under $5.

There are few tables, and it’s not the most blissful atmosphere, but the food transports you miles away from the strip mall, and from Houston.