We Review Crave Mediterranean Cafe

After 43 years on the planet (and after writing about food for almost 20 of them), sometimes I feel like I’ve tasted everything there is to taste. Sure, new restaurants pop up all the time, combining familiar or exotic flavors in new and creative ways, keeping things fresh and exciting. But it’s not very often that I try something that feels wholly unfamiliar to my palate. That happened recently, though, during the very final moments of my first meal at Crave Mediterranean Cafe in Springfield, Missouri.

I visited the Springfield spot with my husband, Eli, and our kids, Oliver and Eloise. We enjoyed a delicious array of appetizers and entrees (I’ll get to those in a minute), but it was dessert that surprised me most. We ordered the kunafa. It’s popular in the Middle East, but my Midwestern family and I had never tried it. What came to the table was a very hot little pan with shredded filo pastry that’s filled with cheese, soaked in a honey syrup and topped with chopped pistachios. It was piping hot, creamy, crunchy, sweet and savory all at once—and the cheese pull was 10 out of 10. It wasn’t a bright, bold flavor that made me love this. It was the comforting warmth and the fun combination of textures. The flavor was quite mild, in fact. Yet it was addicting. I kept saying I was finished then reaching for “one more bite.”  And for something that’s mostly cheese, it felt surprisingly light for a dessert when we all shared it. In other words: a delightful meal ender.

As for the rest of our meal, it was a mood lifter too. We started with hummus, because how can you not? It was perfectly creamy and topped with a drizzle of olive oil, a bit of (not at all spicy) chili oil and a sprinkling of bright sumac. We ate this little by little, savoring it throughout our entire meal and dipping everything in it.

We also shared an order of manakeesh, Mediterranean round, flatbread pizza  cooked in a wood-fired oven with a topping of your choice. That was haloumi cheese for us. It was hot, stretchy, chewy and salty perfection.

For my entree, I opted for a combination plate with rice, grilled veggies, Greek salad, kofta kebab and sirloin steak tikka kebab. The steak tikka kebab was my favorite. The tender steak was delightfully seasoned and cooked just the way I asked: medium rare. The crunchy and sweet charred bell peppers that shared the kebab stick with the steak were an excellent complement.

And while my meal featured beef (twice), Crave Mediterranean Cafe is also a great stop if you don’t eat meat. There are numerous vegetarian-friendly options, like the dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with a seasoned rice filling) or the falafel served with grilled vegetables.