Jeninni, Pacific Grove
Sorry to have left you in the dark last week but I’m back…and loving the rain. We may be in the midst of a storm but, to borrow from Mary Poppins Returns:
Though the lamps are turning down
Please don’t feel blue
For in this part of [Pacific Grove] town
The light shines through
Don't believe the things you've read
You never know what’s up ahead
Underneath the lovely [Pacific Grove] sky
If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend you do. Andit’s playing at our very own Lighthouse Theatre. (Note, I am not in any wayaffiliated nor do I gain profit from recommending either the movie or thetheatre.)
Kitty-corner from the Lighthouse Theatre is Jeninni Kitchenand Wine Bar. There’s a saying in Arabic that roughly translates to: “parentsare taken for granted.” Which extends—in my understanding—to loved ones aretaken for granted. We treat the people we love—such as our parents and dearfriends—in a way we might not treat a colleague or a stranger. We reserve mannersand social niceties to those more distant to us. And what a shame.
I have loved Jeninni Kitchen and Wine Bar in the HolmanBuilding downtown since they opened in the fall of 2013 but I have not writtenabout them. I have taken them for granted—in the form of not writing about themin my column—despite being one of my favorite places in Pacific Grove.
Jeninni serves foods that areinspired by Spanish and North African flavors: think cheese platters with figcompote and almonds, eggplant fries with a honey aioli, or chicken and mergueztagine with couscous. And, being a wine bar owned and run by an incrediblysophisticated sommelier—Thamin Saleh—you can imagine that the wine list issuperb. Oh, and their cocktails are locally-inspired.
You might be wondering what theword Jeninni means. Well, Jenin is a Palestinian city in the Northern West Bankand Jeninni in Arabic means a man from Jenin. A man from Pacific Grove would bePacific Grovi. You see?
What I love most about Jeninni is its intimacy. You walk inand you feel welcome, whether you sit in the dining area or at the barupstairs. The décor on the walls is simple, charming, and reminiscent of old home-cooking.Thamin does an excellent job of talking to all the diners, welcoming them, andanswering all of their questions. And a really unique thing about Jeninni isthat there are three sibling pairs working at Jeninni…two on the floor and onein the kitchen.
I went to Jeninni recently with a friend and let me tell youa little bit about the food we had. The eggplant fries are my favorite item onthe menu. I love them and order them every time I go and every time I forgethow well eggplant retains its heat and burn my tongue. It’s worth it but Ialways have to soothe my burnt tongue with another eggplant fry doused inaioli. The tagine is a couscous dish with chicken and lamb merguez, a spicedMoroccan sausage. The spices are unusual to the American palate but I find themfamiliar having grown up eating Syrian food and then living in Spain aftercollege. They are not spicy in the burn-your-mouth-sense but in the way thatthey bring rich flavors to the dishes.
To go along with your intense but beautifully flavored foodare their cocktails which are fun and low octane (“shims cocktails”) so you canhave more than one. A shim is that little piece of wood you put under a tableto stop it from wobbling. In a shim cocktail, stronger spirits like vodka andgin are replaced with less potent alternatives such as vermouth or herballiquors. That way you won’t wobble after having one or two, either. TheirBarrel Aged “Negroni” is one of my favorites and the The PG Spot is alsodelightful, with elderflower and rosemary, it is nice and refreshing.
Believe it or not we did not indulge on dessert this time butI love all of the desserts I have had there. Their cardamom affogato is myfavorite. An affogato is a scoop of ice cream with a shot of espresso pouredover it. The word affogato actually means “drowned” in Italian. What betterthan to drown your ice cream in coffee? My colleague Dustin and I thought itmade perfect sense to have these for breakfast when we worked at a chocolateand gelato shop in college. Normally one adds milk or cream, sugar, and maybe aflavor—cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.—to their coffee so adding gelato (or ice cream)to coffee is like adding all of those things in one fell scoop…I mean swoop.
So mosey on down to the movies and be sure to hit Jeninni for happy hour before or for dinner after. Or, as I have been known to do…both.
