Best hummus I've ever tasted

My mom has the habit of frequenting eating establishments where suits kind of look out of place, even if they really aren't. We visited another such place for lunch yesterday, a place that she had described to me beforehand as "a place that's run by a bunch of Lebanese skateboarders who don't smile much but make good lentil soup."

She went on to explain to me that the other day one of the guys behind the counter was wearing a tshirt on which Alice Cooper was looking kind of like Medusa, with snakes for hair. One of the patrons got really excited because it was such a "like, cool tshirt, man, it's, like, Medusa, and that's cool," and the guy behind the counter tried to explain that it wasn't really Medusa at all, but the guy, who was quite stoned, wouldn't have it. Finally mom stepped in and said that it was Alice Cooper and the staff turned, smiled and said yeah.

My mom's cool.

So that's where we ended up. The place is called Nuba. It is indeed run by thin young men who wear touques and baggy jeans with the elastic waistbands of their underwear hanging out. It's won some awards, and for good reason. The food was quite excellent. Not the sort of place for claustrophobes though. The whole restaurant was maybe three metres wide, and that meant that tables, if you could call them tables, protruded from the bricks of the wall and stopped abruptly about a foot later.

It seems to pull in quite an interesting clientelle. As we sat down, two men passed us to leave, the bling on the one catching my immediate attention. It was a large, black sand dollar in a heavy gold setting on a heavy gold chain.

Shortly after, two new men took their place at the counter, the more gaudy looking one wearing some sort of embroidered Navajo blanket jacket, a plaid shirt and baggy pants with a psychadelic design that made my eyes temporarily crosseyed. They ordered coffee. Turkish coffee, served in little demitasse mugs from one of the coolest looking flowery enameled kettles I've ever seen. I bet it was good stuff.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. How can you tell?