Unless you live on Alabama Street near El Cajon Boulevard, or traverse it regularly, you’ve probably never stumbled upon Mama’s Bakery & Lebanese Deli.

This small, obscure eatery, which looks like an old, beat-up house, has been feeding the neighborhood since 1988 with Middle Eastern delights such as Spinach Pies, Baba Ghanouj and made-to-order Sajj bread. And it seems as though the owners forgot to raise the prices after “The Golden Girls” and “Roseanne” stopped airing on prime-time television.

The most expensive item on the menu is a substantial Meat Combo Plate for only $7.99. The meal is a mouthful — loaded with traditional marinated strips of beef and chicken, (Shawarma), plus a couple of football-shaped ground meat patties (Kafta), basmati rice, humus, bread and salad.

Equally satisfying are the meat, cheese or spinach “pies” for only $2.99 apiece. For an extra 50 cents, my dining companion and I opted for one filled with spiced ground beef and feta, which came sandwiched between two semi-thick “rounds” of fresh bread cooked in plain view on a traditional Sajj oven.

If the photographs of Lebanon hanging crookedly on the wall don’t convince you of the restaurant’s authenticity, then the exotic flavors of the food will. Owned by a father-and-son team, the menu features a few unfamiliar items such as Fool, Mudamas (fava and garbanzo bean stew) and Soujouk (spicy Armenian beef sausage), along with the usual Falafel, Stuffed Grape Leaves and Tabouli. But even the common dishes are uniquely above average in terms of freshness and flavor.

Before ever hearing of Mama’s, I found myself shoveling down their hummus and falafel at a friend’s party while a few of us quizzed the host about the origin of the food. The name of the restaurant didn’t register, although I suspect that the other guests by now wasted no time finding the place.

Despite its cluttered and homely ambience (and rather nasty toilet facilities), there is an underlying humbleness that runs through the place. The counter staff is friendly. And the cooks working inside the cramped kitchen, located next door to the patio-like seating area, seem to revel in rolling out the bread dough and cooking up meal plates that comfort the soul.

Highly recommended are the delicate Grape Leaves stuffed with pleasantly flavored rice; the Baba Ghanouj, a purée of eggplant infused with an intense smoky flavor; or the Manakeesh, a meal of flatbread brushed with thyme, olive oil and sesame seeds. Also good and filling are the Chicken or Beef Shawarma Sandwiches, filled with marinated meat, fresh garlic paste, lettuce and pickles.

But keep the Altoids handy, because these are serious flavors that stick on your tongue for a while.