Sean Rahmani, owner of Basil Mediterranean Kitchen in San Antonio’s Vance Jackson neighborhood, comes from a family whose members have experience in the restaurant industry.
Rahmani said when he was inspired to own and run his own eatery, he wanted a Mediterranean restaurant that mostly revolved around traditional Turkish food but was still comprehensive with dishes representing multiple regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.
More than three years into owning Basil, Rahmani said there is a lot of variety on the menu.
“With our menu, you get Persian, Arabic, Moroccan, Greek, Italian and other styles. You look at our menu and you see a little bit of everything,” Rahmani said.
Diners at Basil first encounter a plate of complimentary naan, or flatbread, served with olive oil, feta cheese and Persian spices.
Appetizers at Basil include tzatziki; baba ganoush, a Mediterranean eggplant dip; dolmas, or stuffed grape leaves; falafel; kashke bademjan, a Persian eggplant dip; and lebni, a yogurt-like dairy dish.
Additional appetizers include different styles of hummus, such as Thai coconut curry or mango sriracha.
The entrees run the gamut from lamb tikka kebabs and beef koobideh to penne arrabbiata and lamb shank. The menu’s “Turkish Delights” section includes lahmacun—marinated lamb, onions, tomatoes, parsley and spices—and pide, which is flatbread stuffed with ground meat.
Diners may swap the ground meat for gyro meat, vegetables, lamb or chicken. Basil also offers wraps with gyro, vegetables, chicken or beef shawarma.
The menu also has what Rahmani calls “NYC Street Food”—halal cart-style dishes, such as chicken and rice with salad and aioli sauce. There is also a beef and rice variation a well as a combo platter of chicken and beef. Meanwhile, housemade baklava is a popular dessert at Basil.
“We have things that people should try and explore,” Rahmani said of Basil’s variety of menu items.
Rahmani said dough used for such things as the naan is made in-house. Rahmani added that he and his family are proud to take time and be deliberate about creating authentic Mediterranean food from scratch.
“We’re a homestyle, little, family-owned restaurant. We want to keep it that way. We don’t want to take shortcuts. The food comes out the way we want it to,” he said.
In the future, plans include introducing sushi as well as tacos, such as chicken shawarma or gyro tacos with tortillas made in-house, Rahmani said.
“Somebody might ask, ‘Why are you doing sushi at a Mediterranean place?’ I say, ‘Why not?’ Let’s give it a twist, have a little Tex-Mex in it, maybe a little Mediterranean mix. That’ll be something different and unique,” Rahmani said.
