Ethnic eats are fun all on their own. But when you can dine with someone from that culture, it's like finding the secret ingredient to a recipe.

So it happened to be fate that Amy Riolo was in town promoting "Nile Style," her new book on Egyptian cuisine and culture, the same day I was dining with visiting Egyptian reporter, Emad Fekry. Chef/owner of Aya's Cafe on Arch Street near Logan Square, Tarek AlBasti is from Egypt, although his culinary mentor is from Italy and his early training focused on Italian cuisine.

Riolo explained that Egyptian cuisine is a bit of a mystery to Americans and so many restaurateurs will do as AlBasti did and combine dishes from other Mediterranean countries to have a broader appeal.

While that might make good business sense, it only adds to the muddle of what authentic Egyptian cuisine can be. This is a culture with deep roots in antiquity and traditions in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The cuisine and culture is a rich expression of this mix.

We began with fruit juices and my guests described the fresh mango beverage you will find on the streets in Egypt. In early fall, the fruit is so sweet and ripe that the fragrance permeates the air and juice is made to order.

Of course, you can't duplicate that freshness here, even with the house blend of bottled Guava and Mango juice ($3.50).

To get an overall appetizer sampling, we tried Aya's Taster ($10) which is similar to the custom of mezze, or what Riolo says is called "salatat" in Egypt.

The bruschetta was underwhelming because, let's face it, tomatoes out of season have no flavor no matter how much you'd like to think otherwise.

But the baba ghanough and chickpea hummus were a nice sampling to share, if not standard Middle Eastern fare.

For an appetizer you'd be remiss if you didn't try Foule wa Falafel ($8).

This is Egypt's national dish and showcases the subtle differences in Middle Eastern cookery.

Where most hummus is made with chickpeas, the Egyptian version is made from fava beans. I actually found this to be superior - or perhaps I've had too much bad supermarket hummus.

Another dish that swaps chickpeas for fava beans is the falafel. The fava are mixed with herbs and fried with a coating of sesame seeds. The interior is creamy, with a nice exterior crunch augmented by the sesame seeds. A nice change.

Another Egyptian twist was found in the Waraq Enab ($7). These stuffed grape leaves are a little more stuffed than we have come to expect in most versions. And my guests noted that the rice in Egypt is slightly different from the basmati that was substituted.

The Sobayt Mauqly ($9) was squid tossed in flour spiced with a hint of cumin. Fried until crispy, these morsels were accompanied by a tomato-based sauce laced with lemon and herbs. I found it a refreshing change from the heavier marinara often served with fried squid and a nice complement to the seasoning in the batter.

For our main dishes, we had some hits and some misses.

The Kobeba ($22) is a traditional dish of ground beef and bulgur wheat mixed together and stuffed with raisins and pine nuts and deep fried. While these are meant to be small torpedo-shaped bites, AlBiba makes them super-size for an entree portion. It just didn't work - we had to send ours back because it wasn't fully cooked in the middle.

The Musakaa ($20) was composed of layers of eggplant between meat sauce and bechamel. It is very similar to the Greek version and is garnished with pine nuts and served with saffron rice.

The stellar must-have dish of the evening was the Whole Fresh Fish ($25) that is baked in the Alexandrian style with tomatoes, lemon onion, garlic, cumin, coriander and olive oil sauce. It was a light texture and the flavor balance was perfect.

In Alexandria, you would probably eat this right by the Mediterranean accompanied by sea breezes.

Another dish garnering raves by all of us at the table was the Reyash Mashweya ($25). These lamb chops were marinated in olive oil, white vinegar as well as balsamic vinegar and seasoned with allspice and nutmeg.

It was served with tahini sauce and Egyptian sweet rice that is cooked with cinnamon. What a great new twist to lamb.

For dessert, the Rice Pudding ($5) was a definite hit. Heavy cream created the richness, and a light hand with the sugar and pistachios made for a nice finish - especially when paired with the Turkish coffee ($3).

So, how did Aya's Cafe do? Riolo and Fekry were gracious and stood with one foot in America and one in Egypt. Since it is so difficult to get the freshness of the local ingredients it is hard to compare. But their best advice is that the food of Egypt is special, and worthy of more attention. And, of course, even better when you go there. *