Loading ...A Tour of the Middle East, and More, in Dearborn, Michigan
In the famous Soup Nazi episode of “Seinfeld,” customers ordering mulligatawny or crab bisque followed strict rules or left empty-handed. “No soup for you!” the owner yelled, kicking out George for insisting on free bread and Elaine for her Al Pacino impression.
Soup Nazi memories came to mind during my recent stop in Dearborn, Mich., at the Dearborn Meat Market. Customers ordering beef kafta or shish tawook skewers there, it turned out, also run the risk of being kicked out for ordering incorrectly. “Come back another time!” the owner exclaimed, expelling me for ordering too little.
I had stepped up to the counter of the butcher shop — where Hussein Saad and his Lebanese-American family cook up kebabs from meat butchered and spiced in house — and made an innocent order of one kafta kebab.
“How many?” Mr. Saad asked.
I repeated: “Just one, I already had lunch,” I said.
“Not hungry? You have to be hungry, have five!”
“O.K., I’ll order more,” I said.
“No! You’re not hungry! Come back another time.”
Source: www.nytimes.com