WINNER: Best Ethnic Cuisine

2nd place: Best Place to Go on a Date
  Best Vegetarian Cuisine
3rd place: Best Uniquely Athens Restaurant
  Best Fine Dining

2012 Athens News
"Best of Athens"
Reader's Poll

WINNER: Best Ethnic Cuisine
WINNER: Best Renovation
2nd place: Best Vegetarian Cuisine
3rd place: Best Fine Dining
  Best Uniquely Athens Restaurant

"...on this end-of-summer evening, we chose the sublime Salaam.

Walking into this Mediterranean restaurant (21 W. Washington St., just off Court) is like walking into a late-1960s Peter Sellers movie. The tablecloths, the fabric-skirted chair covers, the tiled window sills, the tropical plants, the Oriental rugs, the tapestries, the adobe-colored walls, and the subtle lighting make Salaam an exquisitely enticing eatery.

You feel instantly comfortable and relaxed, not to mention reassured to find a Mediterranean restaurant in a town called Athens.

We sampled the hummus, dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), baba ghannouj (eggplant dip), olives and roasted red peppers, sipped the Rene Barbier Mediterranean White (cheap!), inhaled the vegetarian Mediterranean pasta and marveled at the marvelous salad with walnuts, feta and pomegranate vinaigrette dressing.

Best of all was the fresh, warm, melt-your-heart bread for dipping and dunking.

I asked our exceedingly friendly waiter what kind of bread it was so I could jot down its exotic name for future ordering.

"I'm not sure," he said. "We make it here. It's Turkish-something-bread."

Even better. "