The Dough Show

A month or so back, I made the trek out to East Orlando, near the University of Central Florida, to try a new restaurant everyone is talking about: The Dough Show (https://thedoughshowfl.com/).  Despite the name making you think it might be a bakery or a pizzeria, it’s actually an Egyptian restaurant that specializes in savory and sweet baked pies made with flaky pastry dough called feteer meshaltet, or just feteer.  A savory, flaky pie sounded pretty awesome, but when I entered the small space, I immediately got distracted by seeing marinated beef and chicken shawarma rotating on vertical spits:    

And when I saw all the various fresh vegetables, condiments, and sauces, I was thrown even more:

So I had to start out by ordering a beef shawarma ($11.99), figuring it would be ready quickly, before my feteer pie.  It came out of that open kitchen a matter of minutes, wrapped in soft saj bread — almost more like a thin flour tortilla than familiar, fluffy pita bread — that had been crisped up on the flattop grill like the best Mexican restaurants do to their burritos.

It was delicious.  I didn’t think to ask for any specific vegetables or sauces in my shawarma, but I probably should have, since it was a bit plain.  But the beef was marinated and seasoned really well, so at least it wasn’t dry (although the photo may not be the most appetizing).

At this point, I should point out the absolutely gorgeous custom-made oven The Dough Show uses to bake its feteer pies.  It is HUGE, and the iridescent, multicolored metallic tiles glisten, glimmer, and shine in all the natural light that streams in. 
Please don’t make my mistake — I was so distracted by my shawarma (and also my phone) that I completely missed the actual “show” from the gentleman rolling and flipping the dough and assembling my pie, but I’ve heard from other, more observant people that it is quite the spectacle.

There are many pies to choose from on the menu, and since this was my first time trying  an Egyptian feteer pie, I decided to go for the “Dough Show” — the namesake pie ($19.99).  It seemed to include a lot of stuff: “mixed meat, mixed cheese,” tomatoes, peppers, and olives.  I’m really not a big fan of olives, but I figured if they were part of the namesake pie, I should give them a chance.  Looking over the menu, the meats include sausage, salami, and pastrami,  which I assume are all halal versions made from beef (as opposed to pork sausage or salami), and the cheeses were mozzarella, “Roman” cheese (Romano?), and Kiri, a creamy, mild, soft, processed cheese enriched with cream, which is apparently very popular in the Middle East.  Hey, that sounded like an interesting combination, and it was!

I can’t prepare you for how big these feteer dough pies are, especially for one person, especially for one person who just inhaled a shawarma wrap.  Each little piece is very filling, especially compared to a slice of pizza, due to all the included ingredients.  Needless to say, I took the vast majority of this feteer pie home and ate it over the next few days, warming up pieces in the toaster oven so it stayed crisp.  

By now, it sounds like the legend of The Dough Show has spread, and long lines have been forming, which is great.  I’ve still only been once, but when I return, I would probably try the pastrami or salami in separate pies, since my only complaint was there was so much going on, it was hard to differentiate all the separate ingredients in the “Dough Show” pie I ordered.  I might even ask them to hold the olives, even though I ate them, and they were okay.  Hey, don’t judge — that just leaves more olives in the world for YOU to enjoy, stalwart Saboscrivnerinos!

Next time, I would also skip the shawarma, but I’d consider going with a friend to share a couple of different selections, and maybe even try something sweet.  So have any of my readers been to The Dough Show yet?  If so, what did you order, and would you recommend it?