After a flight delay, our writer Felicia Lopez had a couple of hours to spare in Irving. She found a small Somalian cafe to try and discovered beef suqaar.
“Suqaar” is a common Somalian dish, which is a gravy made with meat and vegetables served over pasta, which comes from the Italian influence on Somalian cuisine, rooted in the Italian colonization of Somalia in the late 1800s to the 1900s.Felicia Lopez
While I waited for lunch, a constant stream of customers came and went. Many of them had phoned in their order to pick up, while two dined at their own corner tables. One customer quietly finished his meal as I entered, and mentioned to the staff that this was his first visit of many. Another customer ordered his lunch in his native language of Somali. A postal worker from down the street came in to pick up their usual plate for lunch that day.
My meal was ready in about 15 minutes and was served in a plastic foam box, heavy and filled with noodles, meat and vegetables. The top layer was the beef suqaar, a freshly made combination of chopped beef sautéed with onions, bell peppers and cilantro. Below the suqaar is a thin spaghetti mixed with a chunky red sauce, with extra sauce on the side.
Initially, it visually looked like an unlikely combination, almost like an Asian stir-fry on top of a traditional Italian pasta. After I took one bite, it all made sense and the dish is unique and amazing in its own right. The suqaar was simple yet comforting, with a savory taste, tender bite of the beef and sautéed onions and bell peppers. The spaghetti, with a perfect al dente pasta and the fresh tomato sauce, was better than some of the local Italian dishes.
There was nothing left on my plate, delaying my planned lunch with my mother, much like the delayed flight that prompted this whole experience. Maybe it’s a sign to dine with less planning and more spontaneity. Or maybe I should just plan my next drive to Irving and eat at Cafe Madina again.KEEP THE DALLAS OBSERVER FREE..., it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way.
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