La Marsa - All Locations, Ann Arbor

Head Chef Adel Ahmed honed his skills at ritzy hotels and palaces in Egypt, cooking for big-shot business folk, world leaders, and lost tourists before making earthy morsels of kafta or feasts of charbroiled lamb chops at La Marsa. With seven locations throughout Metro Detroit, La Marsa introduces or reintroduces scores of area diners to fresh Mediterranean mazas, kabobs, salads, and lamb chops. The kitchen team whips up La Marsa's signature garlic spread to pair with baskets of fluffy housemade pita at the beginning of each meal, still warm from a tile-lined oven. Friendly servers guide guests through the extensive menu of lamb, beef, chicken or vegetarian dishes. And they weave their way through an interior full of colorful wall murals or Near Eastern artifacts lit by bead-fringed chandeliers, which mentally transport patrons to the sunny shores of the Mediterranean. Additionally, sitting in the eatery's padded booths creates as much unobstructed comfort as snuggling in a zero-gravity environment.