Mamoun's Falafel Restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut. Cheap Vegan Eats in Yale Town.

Mamoun's Falafel Restaurant. 
85 Howe Street
New Haven, CT.

"The best falafel on the planet."  -Husband of GSGV

I have been hearing about this place for years now.......this is where my husband first started his falafel addiction.  Hearing about how insanely cheap & yummy this place is, I was stoked to finally try it myself.  They also have a famous "hole in the wall" location in Greenwich Village, the first location, which was opened in 1971.  Mamoun's has been family owned and operated since it's inception.  It also made it into the "1000 places to see before you die" book.

You don't have to worry about dog or cat pee on your rugs if you just hang them on your wall.  Thinking we need to try this at home!!

Really happy that it was a sit down place well suited for hours of sitting.  Drinking strong coffee.  And eating tahini filled foods.  Just has a flair for both style & comfort.

Their famous Lentil Soup.  This stuff was great and not terribly spicy.  I just couldn't deal with the paper cup though........Always think about the linings of those and what lurks beneath the surface.  But the soup was delicious.  We had been driving for several hours, from NY to Boston and a sit down place with hot soup was wonderful.

I ordered a squash veggie type of soup.  Lightly seasoned and full of fresh veggies and yummy tomato broth.  Once again, hard to overlook serving hot soup in paper cups.  

I wasn't feeling the fried food thing that day and opted for salad.  Basic type of Middle Eastern salad with onions, tomatoes, chunks of lettuce, and herbs on top.  Tahini based dressing.

Hubby got falafel sandwich and devoured it.  With hot sauce.  Something about the Mamoun's hot sauce that now he can never have a falafel without some form of heat.  At home we use Melinda's.

Picture of Mamoun on the wall....

Guess they are in on the hookah craze.  I think they had hookahs there 20 years ago, but they weren't "on the menu".

Signage.......Yep, there is an Ivy League school in this town, and yes, there is a fair amount of crime.  I guess a few decades ago it was pretty terrible.  Don't know what the current scene is but of course in the daytime, just passing through, everything looks lovely.

Apartments by Mamoun's....Hubby used to live here 2 decades ago and this is the SAME door with the SAME dents!!   Just steps away from Mamoun's.

85 Howe Street

I say it's a fun place for falafel & baba.  Cheap eats, unique atmosphere, and hubby's old haunt.  It isn't "fine dining" and if you have ever been to the one in the Village in NY, then you will think the atmosphere here is truly fine.  In NY, hot sauce is passed back in forth patrons standing and doubling up on the couple of tables, at 2 in the morning.........Not into plastic anything at either location, but in some way, that is just "part of it".

And from www.gatewaypets.com
East St. Louis, St. Louis Animal Rescues


A great 30 second PSA for rescue dogs! Starring Phil, a GPG rescue!

Some snapshots from our March 1, 2012 East St. Louis & Washington Park Feeding Route.

 Knuckles on left.  Pop's on Right.  East St. Louis.

 Knuckles doing his morning stretch. East St. Louis.

 Horton & Fallon.  And Pj.  Pj isn't up for adoption!

Although she could use a good foster! East St. Louis.

 Jughead....is a stray but has a collar on him.  Pj is going to try to earn his trust so she can either loosen it or take it off.  People put collars and chains on puppies and then either never change them, or dump their dogs.  Then the collar gets embedded and if nothing is done, then the dog will get strangulated. East St. Louis.

 RaRa is happy for the doghouse.  But she is still waiting for a foster.  She thinks she's pretty cute. Well, she's right.  East St. Louis.

 RaRa .

 Ridge.  East St. Louis.  Ridge adores Pj and she has a pretty special thing for him as well.

 Washington Park, Illinois.  Lark was running in the road today.  A busy road.  Lark and her friends also hang on on and by the highway.  I said a lot of bad words in front of Pj today, while watching Lark try to navigate her way across the street.  These dogs are waiting for angels.  

Washington Park is full of abandoned homes.  But not old homes.  Homes with vinyl siding.  Broken out windows.  Bars over the windows.  Boarded up everything.  This adorable pup is becoming a regular on the route.  He/She hangs out in an abandoned home next door with his/her friends.