Tobacco.org

Middle Eastern fare, dance come downtown 

Kairo Kafe is a new and experimental concept on the downtown restaurant and bar scene. The café serves Middle Eastern cuisine for lunch and dinner, but also offers a full bar and remains open until 4 a.m. as an after-hours hookah bar. The café's ambitious plan is to make a name for itself on the strength of its menu, while also providing downtowners with a laid back alternative to after hours clubs with the standard pounding techno music and tweaky, late-night crowds.

For the un-indoctrinated, the "hookah" is a water pipe that has been smoked in cafés and homes across the Mediterranean for centuries. Tobacco is bonded with dried fruit, which composes 97 percent of the mix, and the mixture is drawn into the lungs by inhaling from a hose connected to the hookah's dark blue glass base. Each hookah at the Kairo Kafe is handmade and imported from Egypt.

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