Best Middle Eastern restaurant

A Coolidge Corner mainstay, Rami's keeps kosher while keeping it real. That means no pretenses to ambiance -- just a super-clean take-out counter and a token few tables. It also means no fiddling with the menu: falafel, hummus, kebab, and a couple of other staples are all there is and ever will be. But as Rami's fans will tell you, that's all there ever need be; the falafel in particular, they swear, will make believers out of cynics who'd just as soon use it for golf balls. And the hummus is as creamy as it comes. Meanwhile, Rami's has made one concession to progress -- expansion; there's now a branch in Framingham as well.

By comparison the Middle East, like life, say the French, stays the same the more it changes. What was once a humble Lebanese café is now a famous rock venue -- and a humble (if colorful and funky) Lebanese café, a true Central Square fixture. The menu abounds with honest ingredients: eggplant and pumpkin, grape leaves and yogurt, chickpeas and lamb crop up in stews and salads and on platters, all served in generous portions to a mixed clientele of collegiate hipsters and neighborhood old-timers. Bands may come and go, but couscous is forever.

Rami's, 324 Harvard Street, Brookline, (617) 738-3577; 341 Cochituate Road, Framingham, (508) 370-3577. The Middle East, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 354-8238.