National Culinary Review

Classic Lebanese Cuisine (Three Forks, 2009)

Lebanese cuisine includes a wide selection of lamb, chicken and fish dishes, such as this fire-roasted wheat with lamb from Kamal Al-Faqih.

Al-Faqih grew up in Washington, D.C., where his father was employed at the Embassy of Lebanon. The youngest of four boys, he began cooking with his mother and aunts when he was about 9 years old. His cookbook includes 170 traditional recipes, and he is working on a second book.

Authentic dishes created from time-honored recipes are on the menu at Lebanese restaurants around the country. Most of the restaurants are family businesses and, like Nicola’s Restaurant in Atlanta, welcome generation after generation of regular customers.

yogurt and sautéed pine nuts, garnished with pomegranate seeds.

“People have been coming here for 26
years to eat, dance and celebrate special
occasions,” says owner Nicola Ayoub. “They
bring their children, then their grandchildren,
and now even their great grandchildren.”
The dish is on the menu at the 11 units of
Arlington, Va.-based Lebanese Taverna,
a group of restaurants and cafes with
locations in the greater Washington, D.C.,
area. Lebanese Taverna was founded in
1979 by Tanios and Marie Abi-Najm, who
are now retired. Their five children run the
group’s restaurants, cafes and market.

Small bites, big flavor Lebanon’s bountiful harvest is used to create a wide variety of mezza, those small plates that are as much a social encounter as a dining experience and include unusual salads, main-dish desserts, the Lebanese take on baklava and copious amounts of fruit.

What keeps diners coming back to Lebanese restaurants? Their owners all agree: Lebanese cooking is healthy and fresh, and it’s meant for sharing. The latter attribute isn’t a twist to meet contemporary expectations but a centuries-old tradition.

Another meat-free specialty in Lebanese
cuisine is raisin couscous with a stew of
carrots, onion, yellow squash, zucchini and
tomatoes, which is featured in Classic
Lebanese Cuisine (Three Forks, 2009), by
Kamal Al-Faqih. A native of Lebanon,
Chefs wanting to add a taste of Lebanon
to their non-Lebanese menus should
look to mezza. These usually bite-sized
appetizers offer an abundance of tastes
and textures perfect for starting a meal
or passing as hors d’oeuvres. “I’ve catered
parties where the entire menu was an
elaborate buffet of mezza,” says Al-Faqih.

On the Lebanese menu This country with one foot in the Mediterranean and the other in the Middle East has an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and other products from sea and land. Olive oil is used in lieu of butter, and the harvest lends itself to vegetarian dishes, such as fatteh bel bathenjan, an eggplant /chickpea dish topped with toasted Lebanese bread and smothered with warm

“Mezza are the staples of Lebanese cooking and usually found on every table,” says Lebanese Taverna’s Grace Abi-Najm. “They’re meant to be shared, just as main courses are often shared.” To make that sharing a true experience, Lebanese Taverna offers a selection of mezza platters.