Daniel B.
Yelp
I listened to Fatima B. and I am forever in their debt. Take Fatima's advice and go to Dream Bakery, order the cheese and zaatar maneesh, and fall in love.
Now you may be like me and say, "Maneesh? What's a maneesh?" Or you know, you may have spent more time around the Detroit Metro enjoying our world class middle eastern food and know the form inside out. I will also readily admit that since this was my first maneesh, the fact that I loved it may have little bearing on its overall quality.
Here's the deal. It's a topped flatbread.
Is it a pizza? That's a great question, but that is a debate to save for another day. As a transplanted New Yorker, pizza is my starting point for topped flatbreads, and will serve as a point of comparison in this review.
Damn. If this were pizza, it would easily be up there among the best pizzas I've had in Michigan. Full stop. The crust was tender, flavorful, and beautifully charred as it was cooked directly on the oven floor and blistered in all the best possible ways.
As I asked for the maneesh to go, it was folded up on a paper plate, and stuffed in a paper bag. This snack was so hot, it was hard to hold and challenging to eat. The clerk wanted to put the paper bag into a plastic bag, warning me that it was oily, but I naively brushed that off. I'm a New Yorker, I know how to eat a cheesy bread and walk at the same time.
But yeah, this is oily. And I know oily turns some folks off, however it turns me on. Because fat is flavor my friends. Why would anyone dab the flavor from a delicious dish and rob themselves of the pleasure of the palate? I digress.
By the time I was done, the paper bag was indeed an oily mess with at least a tablespoon of the good stuff sloshing around on the bottom. I only wish that I had sat down and enjoyed this seated, so I could have dabbed up the oil with more of the bread.
Still, this was amazing! Crisp. Chewy. Cheesy. Herbal. Toasty. Nutty. Salty. Fragrant. Satisfying.
Oh, and did I mention the whole thing was less than five bucks? Why there is not a line out the door all the time is a mystery to me. Why there aren't any more reviews from Elites across the region singing its praises confounds me. Why I had not heard of maneesh before walking in the door at Dream Bakery feels like an avoidable tragedy.
I am just glad that I finally found this spot. Yes, Dream Bakery sits on a dreary corner of a strip mall, overlooking a charmless parking lot. It's adjacent to the main road, but not visible from the street. Overlook these shortcomings and go for the maneesh. Stay for the other treats, which also looked amazing, and report back.
And if there is a better maneesh in the region, please let me know. I may have to stop eating pizza and convert to these delightful discs for the foreseeable future.