Amsterdam Falafel, Washington D.C.

I love falafel when it's crunchy and fresh, with really good tahini and salad on really good pita. Amsterdam Falafel Shop on 18th Street NW makes it exactly the way I like it! I asked exactly which middle eastern country their falafel came from. The answer was completely evasive: they studied falafel in Amsterdam, and came up with their recipe. Customers come from a variety of embassies in the neighborhood (Adams-Morgan). Some may be mutual enemies. So the management strictly refuses allegiance to any single source of falafel -- except Amsterdam.

I said, oh, "World Peace Falafel" -- yes, that's it. I liked it as well as the falafel in Tel Aviv and on Rue des Rosiers in Paris -- that is, Israeli falafel, maybe Israeli-Yemenite falafel. But this is pan-middle-eastern falafel.

And not far away are various African art shops with many beautiful masks and carvings for sale.