Cheap Eats: Aladdin's Baking Co.

Aladdin’s Baking Co. is a workingman staple. Stop by around noon and you’ll see police officers, sheriff’s deputies and Progressive Field staffers noshing at the half-grocery store, half-deli on Carnegie Avenue. They’re there for gyro sandwiches ($5.50), falafel sandwiches ($3.99) and our favorite — the chicken shawarma sandwich ($5.50), which has been on the menu for 35 years. Chicken that’s been marinated for two or three days in olive oil, paprika, lemon juice, salt and other spices is spit-roasted all day and shaved to order. The meat is complemented with a toss of garlic sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion, parsley and garlicky tahini. But the secret to this toothsome Mediterranean medley is the acidic undercurrent that makes everything else pop — diced turnips pickled in vinegar and salt for at least 21 days. It all mingles in a house-made pita bread shell that’s wrapped in tin foil for an easy on-the-go meal. Also Try: For a Mediterranean twist on American fare, get a broccoli feta cheese mini-pizza made on pita bread ($2.75). Then clean up with a triangle or two of sweet baklava ($1). 1301 Carnegie Ave., Cleveland, 216-861-0317, aladdinbaking.com