HOOKAH BAR REVIEWS
Smoking sections
HOOKAH BAR REVIEWS
Hookah bars offer exotic tobacco, ambience

Marrakech Café
2266 S. Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80222
   Marrakech Café offers a fun and comfortable atmosphere minus the inebriated people and thick cigarette smoke one might encounter at a nightclub or bar.
   Pulling up to the hookah bar, we were met with the wall-shaking bass of Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” and a potent, sweet scent. Once inside, we were directed to a table in the middle of the room, but had to squeeze our way through the maze of people and tables packed into the tiny area. Every table was occupied by a group of young people puffing away at their hookahs and mouthing words to the songs blaring overhead.
   Because the music was so loud, one couldn’t carry on a conversation without screaming to the person sitting right next to them.
   I suppose I expected something a bit more predictable: A dimly lit room with a smoky veil and sitar music playing softly. What I encountered was a lounge atmosphere, complete with authentic-looking décor and a few brave girls willing to hop on the seats and tables to dance to the hip-hop beats. Feeling out of place, my friends and I just smiled and waited for our waiter to take our order. All the waiters were hustling about, buzzing around the tables, turning coals and delivering  smoking hookahs.

   Taking into consideration the waiter-to-clientele ratio, it was difficult to get a server’s attention.

   We ordered a hookah with vanilla-flavored shisha — a wet tobacco infused with honey and dried fruit extracts — ranging in price from $5.99 for one person to $11.99 for a group of three.

   The menu offered more than just the flavored shisha choices. There was a plethora of traditional Middle Eastern and Mediterranean appetizers like falafels, gyros and hummus from $3.99 to $5.99, as well as dinner dishes priced at $9.99.

   Despite the crowd, we received our hookah and food promptly. The hookah on the table, comparable to a glamorized water bong, towered over our heads. There was one pipe to share among the three of us. As a nonsmoker, the smoke was cool and soothing, unlike my past experiences with cigarettes, which left me hacking and my lungs burning. The tobacco is heated with coals and then cooled with cold water for a smooth and comforting inhalation.

   Sitting there quietly, eating hummus and smoking while The Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps” played, it was easy to see why the phenomenon of the hookah bar took hold the way it did in the US. For the most part, their hip and inviting environments are geared toward college and fresh-out-of-high school students.

   Marrakech is open until 3 a.m. on weeknights and 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday. By 10:00 p.m. be prepared to wait for a table, because the bar is often packed. Come polished with your knowledge of hip-hop lyrics and table-dancing skills, and prepare for an entertaining, and loud, hookah experience.
— Nicole Queen
• nqueen@mscd.edu

 

 

   Aladdin Café and Grill
   2594 S. Colorado Blvd.
   Denver, CO 80222
   The open-air patio at Aladdin Café and Grill is a great place to enjoy the restaurant’s authentic Mediterranean cuisine, even if it is the smoking section.

   Many of the smoking sections in Denver restaurants lack the sweet scents from the hookahs that come from the Aladdin’s patio area. After 7 p.m. you can smoke inside as well.

   One doesn’t have to take a trip to the Middle East to enjoy this tradition of water pipe smoking. Aladdin Café offers the experience at $7.99 for one person, $9.99 for two, or $13.99 for three.

    Sharing a hookah is a Middle Eastern tradition of friendship in which one smokes shisha, molasses mixed with flavored tobacco, out of an intricate water pipe.

   Aladdin’s hookahs have a large glass vase-like base connected to a rounded silver piece with a stem in the center and a clay bowl at the top. The pipe stands about two feet tall and a long hose connects the pipe to a wood mouthpiece. Each person is given a plastic cover for the mouthpiece.

   Illicit connotations aside, hookah smoking is intended for the use of tobacco and Aladdin offers a variety of sweet flavors including apricot, coconut, double apple and strawberry. The taste of the smoke is thick and sweet with only hints of the flavor it boasts. What the tobacco lacks in taste it makes up for in the aroma, as the flavored smell makes for a pleasant novelty.

   Smoking hookah is a calming experience.
   Since pure tobacco is smoked, it lacks the “buzz” feeling associated with smoking a cigarette that contains hundreds of chemicals.

   In addition to the hookah lounge experience, Aladdin also offers a variety of Middle Eastern food.
   The beef shawarma is a recommended entrée. It comes with broiled sirloin fillets marinated in spices and served with tahini sauce. The beef is tender and flavorful and cooked with red tomatoes, which make for a savory compliment.

   Entrées come with hummus, salad, rice and pita bread. The hummus is a thick, off-white paste subtle in its tart aftertaste and blends nicely with the warm pita bread. The salad is your typical bowl of iceberg lettuce with tomatoes and a honey-mustard dressing.

   Although the dinner entrées are steeply priced for a college student’s budget, ranging from $8.95 to $12.95, the menu’s lunch platter and sandwich section is kinder on the wallet. The lunch platters are served 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are served with rice and salad.

   The decor of the cafe is consistent, as even the green and cream-colored floor coordinates
with the forest green and gold-brocaded tablecloths. On the northwest wall is painted a pillared courtyard scene with a sea at the edge of mountains.
   
    Aladdin Café and Grill may have you rethink sitting in the smoking section.
—Nicholas Dewart • dewart@mscd.edu