Firdous

Anytime I'm in a shopping mall, I look around the window displays to test a theory that I proposed years ago--mannequins get sluttier and sluttier every year. It isn't just the culture in general, maybe, because the anthropomorphized clothing racks couldn't have been quite this dirty in the past according to my foggy memory. Or maybe this is a down cycle, and perhaps 2002 was the peak year for trashiness in mannequin suggestiveness. I spent a year in graduate school learning the ropes of the social sciences. But I'm not sure how I could quantify a scale of filthy that would support this pet theorum of mine. Maybe I'll never know.

Nonetheless, typically I write about food, music or politics, so I'll leave my amateur analysis of gender issues out of my report on Firdous Mediterranean Cuisine in Polaris. I had a taste for falafel and hummus, so I went to Firdous to sate my cravings.

Firdous has plenty of vegetarian options, including platters and sandwiches featuring falafel, hummus and baba ganoush dips, and Middle Eastern and Mediterranean salads. There are vegetarian combination plates with many different options. I tried a combo of falafel, hummus and Greek salad.

Firdous has at least two locations. The other location is at North Market in Columbus. While I can't speak for the quality of the North Market location, the Polaris stop is one step above most fast food st best, and not nearly the quality of places like Aladdin's, which are conveniently located damn near everywhere.

It is also a touch expensive. My combo and drink were almost $9, which was expensive based upon the quality of the fare. The food is better for you than the crap from Sbarro's and Wendy's, and you pay for every cent of the upgrade.

The other plus of getting something from Firdous at North Market is that there would be other places to get different food within the market, whereas the Polaris food court offers deep fried fat and other artery-clogging goop. But you also might be able to spend $10 at Molly Woo's, Brio, Bayleaf or B.J.'s in and around Polaris and get better food (albeit more slowly) than you would at Firdous. I might also prefer Noodles and Company and Qdoba to Firdous. Finally, I've finished ranking Polaris eateries ahead of Firdous. It finished ranked 7th in the vegetarian dining options near Polaris...pending the opening of Marcella's.

Check out the pictures, and check out my crazy theory that mannequins are sluttier now then they were when you were growing up while doing whatever else it was you were doing.

Firdous