Flaming Kabob - Southfield

I never crave vegetables. But there is one salad that I crave, that I would order over pizza or chocolate, the best salad in the entire world. That amazing salad is the Kaplan's Deluxe Salad from Flaming Kabob in Southfield, Michigan.

Flaming Kabob is a small clean diner style restaurant on Southfield Road north of 12 Mile that specializes in middle eastern food. It is a favorite place to go for our teachers to go for lunch (on the rare times during the school year that we can) or for take out on my way home. I don't think they have a website.

This restaurant features their own fresh salad dressings and sauces. The Moe's pink house dressing is made from, well, I have no idea what is in it, but it is tangy and perfect on a salad. If you eat in the restaurant they bring this zippy orange sauce for dipping with pita bread. But the masterpiece of Flaming Kabob is their garlic yogurt sauce. I have tried and tried to duplicate it, but never have quite gotten it right. I will eat this sauce slathered on bread, sandwiches, and salads - I always order an extra cup for my meal.

What to order? If you want a sandwich, I recommend the chicken shawarma or gallaba sandwiches. Both have tasty chunks of flavored charroasted chicken and the above mentioned garlic sauce. If you want a full meal, try the half order of the Moe's Special. It comes with a large side salad, pita bread, and a meal of rice topped with chicken shawarma, raisins, and almonds. There are 2 columns of salad selections on the menu - the fattoush salad, Greek salad, and spinach salads are all wonderful and come with interesting variations.


But the Kaplan's Deluxe is the queen of all salads. Romaine lettuce, crispy fried pita bread, tomatoes, almonds, chicken shawarma, and rice. Yes, rice! It sounds usual, but tastes wonderful. It is served with the Moe's dressing and the garlic sauce on the side. Mix it all together and it tastes amazing. And this salad is enough for two people to share - I usually can get 2 to 3 meals from it. (The picture above makes it look small, but this is a huge plate.) It is the best salad I've ever had anywhere in the world.