(This venue is closed.) It's the difference-maker that distinguishes a Tunisian sandwich from the pedestrian tuna-and-egg variety.
Preserved lemon, a traditional condiment in North African cuisine, is one of several items that shine in the window of this Israeli-rooted restaurant. The citrus is sliced, seasoned (I don't know the details), and allowed to bathe in sunlight for three months, no less, before pulp and peel are put to use. (You can just make out the dated label on the lid.) In the photo below, it's not possible to pick out the lemon — accompanied in the sandwich ($14) by potato, olive, pickled carrot, and the hot sauce called harissa, as well as tuna and hardboiled egg — but there's no missing the intense flavor.
Also shown: malabi, a cornstarch-thickened pudding here dressed with crushed peanuts and a blood orange sauce. That dried wheel of blood orange, as you'd expect, was prepared in-house, too.
Balaboosta
214 Mulberry St. (Prince-Spring Sts.), Manhattan
212-966-7366
www.BalaboostaNYC.com
