Pretty good, as it turns out.

Paul Chedrawee opened Albaraki about a year and a half ago, occupying the former River St. home of Sandra Marie’s Pizza, near one end of downtown Troy’s antiques district. It escaped my notice until a housemate brought half a falafel wrap home and offered it to me. It was excellent, so I made it a point to head down there—and I’ve gone back multiple times in the month or so since then.

To be sure, the building itself isn’t much to look at. The interior is tiny, with only two tables—most customers either get their food to go, or enjoy the shade of the umbrellas covering the tables on the sidewalk. The decorations are scattered here and there: pictures and posters from Chedrawee’s native land of Lebanon (especially Beirut), a colorful tapestry behind the cash register, and intricate glassware atop the covered table that holds the desserts.

The menu, in its entirety, is prominently posted on one wall. There are roughly half a dozen meat entrees, and maybe a few more vegetarian dishes. The prices are most friendly: Most items are around five bucks, with the dinner platters ranging $9-12.

My wife and I started off with an appetizer of stuffed grape leaves. They’re stuffed with white rice and spices, and soaked in a mixture that I’m pretty sure involves lemon juice. Honestly, I find it really difficult to describe the flavor—suffice it to say if you’ve never had them before, you’re missing out. And if you already know you enjoy grape leaves, then let me just say that these are the best you’re likely to find around here. They were served with a pureed garlic paste that complimented them very nicely.

For my entree, I allowed Chedrawee to convince me to try a new special: moujadara, which is a dish made from lentils and rice fried together and topped with carmelized onions. Most excellent, and the portion was enough for two meals. It was served with a cucumber and onion salad, which had a yogurt-based dressing involving mint and garlic. Very rich, and very tasty.

My wife, on my strong recommendation, ordered a falafel wrap. They’re a bit spicy, with plenty of garlic, and come bundled with turnip pickles (which are immensely more delicious than they sound) and a fantastic tahini-based sauce. She was suitably impressed, though perhaps not quite as much as I was.

In fact, after the first time I visited Albaraki, I was inspired to try making some falafel on my own. So I pulled down my copy of The Joy of Cooking, improvised a bit here and there, and came up with something that was quite good for my first attempt, but nowhere near as good as Albaraki’s. So on this trip, I asked Chedrawee about it. Turns out that the tahini sauce I had neglected is a critical component of falafel.

Tahini is basically just ground up sesame seeds. It’s an integral part of many of the dishes from the region, as evidenced by the number of times that it appears on the menu, and it can be purchased at many local supermarkets. Next time, I’m definitely going to have to make sure I have some on hand.

For dessert, we both skipped the classic baklava in favor of some more unusual options. I had a couple of maamoul cookies—a bit of a misnomer, as they were more like miniature pies filled with dates. Tasty, but a little bit dry. My wife got chocolate halva, which is made from (surprise!) tahini. It’s another difficult-to-describe dish, half pastry and half paste. We had it spread on pita bread, and it was very good.

The grand total for all of this was under $25. If you’re just going to pop in for lunch on the go, you’ll probably pay only $5-6 per person. Considering the quality of the food, it’s an absolute steal. Go to Albaraki, and keep an eye out for Chedrawee in his trademark black vest with gold embroidery. Strike up a conversation, order some food, and sit out on the sidewalk. I guarantee you’ll enjoy the experience.