King Kabob (June 11, 2007)

The College Park Plaza is a shady looking place.

People often pass it on a day to day basis whenever they blow through the 86th Street/Michigan Road intersection (one of the most dangerous in Indiana) heading eastbound on 86th. The main tenants there are an "86th street pub", an oral surgeon's office, an auto repair place and various eclectic, privately owned businesses crammed into the small strip. The building is outdated with blue tiling and generally doesn't have as much traffic as any of the other strips in the area.

In mid-late 2004, I ate a "Dante's Pizza" with some friends that was located on the end of that strip. I went with them about twice, I believe, as they were avid fans of it. Dante's was basically your run of the mill pizza joint with a nightly buffet. My friends preferred it over the Cici's Pizza located in another nearby strip although I found Cici's to be better tasting and a lot cheaper for the quality of pizza that each place provides.

The place was, of course, never full. As a matter of fact, we were usually the only ones in there. Dante's sold TCBY ice cream along with their pizza in a whole different counter - it was almost a sort of a "Dante's-TCBY combo." The pizza buffet was standard fare, not terrible but not great. I'd rather drop the money I paid for it on Pizza Hut's lunch buffet or pay less for a larger buffet at Cici's.

I eventually stopped going and never went into the plaza again for a while. Eventually, the debt and the sparse patronage caught up with Dante's and they subsequently closed around 2006.

I thought nothing of it, though I'm sure some people miss it.

As I drove past the plaza one day, to my delight I saw a new business take over the old space that Dante's once filled.

King Kabob.

I'm half Persian, so I love Kabobs and rice. However, I was a bit hesitant to eat there as I am with new businesses in all so I gathered up the courage today and I ate there.

11 AM: I pull up into the College Park Plaza. It had been about two and a half years since I've done that and a part of me was wondering what I was getting into.

Walking up to the establishment, through King Kabob's red letters I can still see the outlines of the letters where "DANTE'S PIZZA" once stood. The "OPEN" sign wasn't illuminated so for a second, I thought the place was closed for good. However, as a last try, I pulled on the door and it was surprisingly open. Oh shit. Breaking and entering! I quickly close the door..

..until I then see a Middle Eastern guy dressed in jean shorts and a t-shirt wave me in.

I go in. Welcome to King Kabob.

The menu is quite large. The man is a Lebanese man who seemed to not know a lot of English. Very robotic.

This intimidated me, so I quickly decided on the Beef Kebab. The total comes to $8.54.

"Drink?"

"Yes"

"$10.13"

Sheesh.... Kebab

On the menu, the entrees come with rice. Kabobs are not the only thing that this joint serves, there's spaghetti, gyros, cheeseburgers, hummus, philly cheesesteaks, and a "Lebanese plate." That's how I found out that he was Lebanese. Also, the old TCBY stand was still there and King Kabob utilizes it to sell ice cream, sans the TCBY logo (I believe).

A Hispanic man dressed in a Purdue shirt comes over to my table gives me some silverware and, oddly, a thing of Ketchup.

KETCHUP???!!!!

Gross.

Like Dante's once had, a deserted theme was in place here. I was most likely the first customer of the day. In fact, I'm 100% positive. CNN is on the big screen TV. Also I think Dante's had a big screen TV when I ate there, it could of been theirs.

After 10 minutes or so of watching suicide bombing reports in Iraq, I get my food at last.

The Kebabs are served on a wooden skewer as they are in most Arab cuisines - Persians usually don't include the skewer and have a very different version of the "kebab meal" that focuses more on meat and less on vegetables. Thus, the portions of beef were skimpy. The rice was similar to the rice I had at the Istanbul Cafe down the street near Ditch but it actually had flavor in it - a flavor that was pretty good actually. The beef tasted alright, actually it was more of a steak. Also included were pita slices that were hot and fresh. Not bad.

Not bad at all.

I soon departed and again, the place was devoid of any customers. On the way out, Dante's old floor mat was still in the doorway. Hopefully the crowds began to pick up around noon. Hopefully.

Will I ever eat there again? I might. I'll probably get something different next time. I'm a bit intrigued, I must say. I recommend it.

The College Park Plaza is still a shady place.

But King Kabob gives it some character.