By Lara Alexander

Hands down, the best place to spend $5 in Edmonds is in the kitschy Firdale Village shopping center. Caravan Kebab, a “Mediterranean, Indian & European” restaurant, watches over the shopping square from its corner perch and is well worth a detour if you are in the area.

Open daily for lunch between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., their hot kebab sandwiches are only $5 — feta cheese a dollar extra. Although the price would suggest otherwise, these are not you average gyro style wrap – no thin, dry wisps of pressed meat to be found here.

Three varieties of sandwich are on the lunch menu:

• Lamb Shish, marinated in garlic and Mediterranean herbs,
• Chicken Boti, marinated in yogurt & Indian spices,
• Ground beef Seekh Kebab with red chili and spices.

All are served with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, olives, onion, pickled pepper, a yogurt-cucumber tzaziki sauce and hummus, wrapped in an Arab flatbread.

What surprised me the first time I dropped in for a lunch order was both the quantity and quality of the tender and flavorful meat in the Chicken Boti. This was not some chicken scratch filling; this was a whole chicken breast, worthy of a dinner entree, tenderized by the yogurt marinade and well flavored with warm spices. The Lamb Shish is equally impressive. What better way could you spend a 5 dollar bill in Edmonds? Of course, if you are feeling spendy, you could spring for the feta cheese too.

In addition to the kebabs, Caravan Kebab’s lunch menu offers five entrees served with flavored Basmati rice, each for $6.99. Besides the Chicken Tikka Masala, the lunch entrees are vegetarian, offering pan fried Paneer cheese, vegetable curry, chickpeas and black lentils, each in their own sauce. At only a bit more than half the price of the dinner menu, you can’t go wrong.

Caravan Kebab
Mediterranean, Indian & European Restaurant
(206) 546-7999

9711 Firdale Ave.
Edmonds, WA 98020
(In Firdale Village Shopping Center)

Open for lunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Dinner from 5 p.m.

A culinary adventurer, Lara Alexander grows, cooks and writes about food from her home in Edmonds. You can read about her garden and kitchen fun on the blog Food-Soil-Thread.