From The New Orleans Menu Daily By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published April 26, 2007 Cleopatra 2$ Harvey: 2701 Manhattan Blvd. 361-1113 Lunch and dinner continuously, seven days. AE DS MC V www.cleopatramediterraneancuisine.com Middle Eastern. Cleopatra is surprisingly comfortable and visually interesting--perhaps the most elegant of all the local Middle Eastern restaurants. It has chandeliers, tablecloths, linen napkins, and other niceties you wouldn't expect from a restaurant in a strip mall. Nor are its prices particularly higher than you're used to seeing. Cleopatra has another distinction: its pita bread is baked fresh on the premises every day. It's thicker and fluffier than most pita around town, almost beyond what the word "flatbread" suggests. The food and drink adhere to Islamic rules. They serve halal meats, which are butchered according to a prescribed method that's much more careful than that used for typical restaurant fare. The lamb chops especially have an old-fashioned look and flavor, with the fat that nobody seems to want to give us anymore. On the other hand, they don't serve any alcohol. Cleopatra offers the full array of Middle Eastern food, with the addition of a few Northern African dishes. The place claims some Egyptian heritage, but that doesn't jump out at you from the menu--unless Egyptians have a special taste for duck. (I can't remember ever having had that before in one of these places). Couscous is also here, prepared with meats or vegetables or both. I find the food here uniformly good, but not in any unusual way other than that seasoning levels are lower than what my New Orleans-tuned palate is accustomed. That's easily remedied: ask for some harissa or hot sauce. With a person or two, start with the special appetizer platter, which includes most of the entire list of starters. Soups are decent. They make a fine Greek salad. Among the entrees, the standout is the filet mignon shish kebab. This tops the price list at $18 for the entire dinner, but even so it's a good deal. The beef is cut thick and seared nicely. For the same bucks you get a three-way kebab platter with chicken, beef, and kafta (ground beef with seasonings). Or three quails. They were out of that the last time I was there, but it's on my list for next time. The clientele here seems to be so chummy with the waitstaff as to tell that they're all regulars. But where else does one go on the West Bank for Middle Eastern food? Cleopatra is certainly the best of the few options, and a very pleasant place to dine. This was a restaurant in the 2007 Top Sixty Ethnic Restaurant Countdown. To view the entire list, click here. Click here for an index of all restaurant reviews. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com.