The Mirage Of Knoxville "Cairo Cafe"

What a night as we traveled to Egypt and carried on my birthday spree but never departed Tennessee.  Our friends, along with Stone and I had 7:30 reservations at Cairo Cafe.  We were first time patrons.  I'm always up for something different, don't like to be in a rut, or spend my days and nights in front of a TV.  With that being said, we made our way downtown.  Luckily, there was parking directly across the street, since we arrived a mere 10 minutes late.  Once inside the Cafe we were welcomed by this lovely attendant, who then lead us into its cushy interior,where we sat on the floor with cushions, surrounded a small round table, and began our perfect exotic evening.  Our server was very attentive. Since we were having such a good time, we kept getting distracted and wasn't making our decisions on what to order.  Our waitress came numerous times to take our order.  Each time we apologized and said we would look at the menu. She told us no hurry, to take our time and enjoy our evening.  Well, I can assure you we had no problem with that.  We had that under control.  After quite some time, we decided to start with a bottle of wine and some appetizers.  We ordered hummus, stuffed grape leaves and feta dip, each being equally good which was served with pita bread, my addiction.  Next up was our Tabouli Salad.  I love this stuff and I can't get enough. Honestly, I could have just had a couple of helpings of this and been happy.   While waiting on our entree, we decided to be spontaneous, and try Hookah with orange flavor.  Now first of all,  none of us are smokers and have never tried Hookah, but let me tell you, it was a blaaaaaast!!! We each, continuously passed it around.  The scary thing was that I seemed like a natural.  I promise that I have NEVER smoked anything.  We were having so much fun that it seemed as though no time had passed before our meal was placed in front of us.  Our entries were the Shish Tawook, which is skewered marinated chicken breast with this delicious tzarzaki sauce, and Shish Kabob, which is skewered marinated beef with tomatoes and onions.  We devoured our meal with all its flavor and cleaned our plates.  I must say both meats, the chicken and beef ,where very delicious.  We had made an excellent choice.  While waiting on our sweet treat, Baklava, we turned our attention back to our Hookah, as our waitress had renewed our coal for the third and final time.  Our desserts of syrup soaked flakey pastries arrived as the music and belly dancer commenced.  The crowd was lively as she moved with the music made her rounds to all the patrons.  Many placed money in her belt, while others gave her a money shower.  As it neared midnight, we walked out the door, which transformed us back to the hills of East Tennessee.  We put the top down on the car, the wind whipped our hair and we made our way home as Elvis sang on the radio.   It was a unique experience.