» By CONOR SCRUTON – cscruton@my.apsu.edu
As college students, we all get stressed. Whether dealing with mountains of homework or long work hours, the obligations just seem to pile up sometimes. That’s why Clarksville is full of places to just hang out and relax after a long week.
One such place is Tarboosh, a restaurant and hookah bar on 117 Franklin St. in downtown Clarksville. It’s only been open for a few months now, but is already popular with APSU students for its atmosphere and homemade menu items, which range from Italian pasta and calzones to Mediterranean hummus and gyros.
Much like last week, I had smoked hookah and tried plenty of food in Clarksville, but had yet to visit Tarboosh itself.
Having heard plenty of good things about it, I went with some friends who were adamant I try a few of the specialties Tarboosh had to offer.
For hookah smokers, Tarboosh has 25 flavors of shisha tobacco to choose from. While I tend to prefer minty flavors, fruitier tobaccos are usually good if you’ve never tried it before.
For extra incentive, Tarboosh has a special way of preparing one hookah that involves filtering the tobacco through an orange rind I would particularly recommend.
As I’ve mentioned, one way Tarboosh is unique is that a full menu of food options is offered in addition to hookah. I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive of this at first — I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to buy food at the same place I was smoking.
Quite the contrary, though. Tarboosh has a lot of very good entrées, as well as many appetizers that are the perfect size for sharing over hookah smoking. The hummus and pita bread were especially good, and the Tarboosh blend tea was excellent.
While Tarboosh can be a place to relax and talk with friends early in the night, they haven’t forgotten the partiers.
For students looking for a more active way to let off steam over the weekend, Tarboosh offers shows such as belly dancing on Friday nights.
Once a month, you can go to a “Boom at the Boosh” party, which features hookah and pizza specials all night and performances by local DJs. Open from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., Tarboosh is fit to serve even the most nocturnal of you night owls. TAS
