shakshuka

i'm starting another series -- because, thursday, i went to the best restaurant i've been to in vilnius

first, though, about the weather -- when i looked at the weather app on my phone, thursday night, it said that it was going to dip to 46 degrees, at six o'clock, yesterday morning

i asked maria -- she said her colleagues said it got down to three degrees -- celsius -- equals...38.4 fahrenheit

back to food

i first met this restaurant in march -- i was walking around, and saw these antique instruments in the window

it's between town hall and the gates of dawn (ausros vartu (that's awsh'rus), the only remaining gate to the city), a place of good luck

then, i passed the restaurant again, a month ago, when i was on my way to see hales turgus for the first time -- a popular market, on the other side of ausros vartu

reminded me of the women who sit on the ground outside the gates of jerusalem, selling their produce

the woman was wagging her finger at me,...about taking pictures -- i then walked by her, and we smiled at each other

i haven't talked about the rye bread -- unbelievable -- maybe the best thing here -- certainly,...the greatest discovery...from my first trip

a week before, i went to another turgus -- kalvariju -- i'll get back to that one

when i passed the restaurant, i took two more pictures of the instruments -- thought i might get a better result than the first time

 then i looked at the menu

WHOA -- SHAKSHUKA (the bottom-left item) -- WHAT THE HECK!

on mother's day, we went for a brunch at table 45, in the intercontinental hotel, on the cleveland clinic grounds -- hani, the egyptian man at the omelette station, made me an omelette -- very good -- then my ex-brother-in-law went -- hani offered to make him an omelette, arab-style -- shakshuka

we loved it -- lots of tomatoes,...well cooked -- stewed,...i guess...is the word -- with onions -- i think khalid said that cooking the tomatoes well, takes care of the acidity -- the eggs are cracked onto the cooked ingredients -- the egg whites get mixed in, but the egg yolk is left intact, until the end -- then,...a little cut in each,...to let the yoke leak out

so i made it a goal to have a shakshuka here

after spending more time walking around hales turgus than i should have, i finally headed back (towards the library), and i stopped at felicie, to check it out

we finally made it there, thursday -- a holiday here -- mindigas day -- the founder of lithuania -- brought the country together -- its only king -- but the founder of a dynasty,...i think -- one of his descendants, gediminas, founded vilnius,...responding to a vision of a wolf

the shakshuka was great

only difference,...the egg yokes weren't cut -- were cooked just slightly more than...to make them ooze-able -- i told the waiter...about everything -- he was going to tell the cook

actually,...looking at the picture now, i see that the egg whites weren't mixed in with the rest of the ingredients -- a la hani's shakshuka

oh -- something important -- when i first told the waiter why we were there, he said that they were no longer making shakshuka -- that it wasn't a popular item, so they took it off the menu -- i asked him, please -- he checked with the chef -- bob's your uncle

and we were the only ones in the restaurant -- inside or out -- they have a nice seating area outside -- great location

before the shakshuka, though, we had their baba ghanouj -- very different than what i'm used to (levantine arab style) -- excellent -- i loved it -- jewish style, the waiter said -- with mayonnaise -- funnily enough, the plain crackers worked better with the baba ghanouj than the soft bread did

and the mushroom soup was outstanding too -- a special local mushroom -- i don't remember the name -- something like buletas or bulentas -- i'll get it -- mushrooms are so amazing

maria wanted the baked goat cheese -- with caramelized beet roots -- she loved it -- i thought it was just all right

the gira was very good too

and look at the couch there

we sat on a similar couch -- looking at that one -- the outdoor seating area is to our left

i told the...replacement waiter -- our first waiter was great -- very friendly -- he left, though -- well, i told her that i've been to 20 or 30 restaurants in vilnius, and this one was the best

i'm going back -- for everything

it's pronounced felitsia