Good Food Enjoyed in Good Company

The motto of the growing restaurant chain Lebanese Taverna in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is "Good Food Enjoyed in Good Company." For me that is certainly the case, as I have returned to this restaurant when visiting family over the years. The Abi-Najm family immigrated to the U.S. during the Lebanese civil war and opened Lebanese Taverna in Arlington in 1976, and it grew steadily from there, evolving from a small family-owned restaurant to a regionally-known name. They now have locations in Washington D.C., Pentagon City, Baltimore, Silver Spring, Rockville, and the most recent in Bethesda, Maryland. In the 90s they opened the Lebanese Taverna Market, which sells authentic Lebanese food and specialty products, expanding to include catering and cooking classes to teach the art of Lebanese cooking to an American audience.

The Bethesda location is prime real estate in the newly-developed commercial district Bethesda Row, with a pedestrian walkway to foment foot traffic. The restaurant decor jives with this escalating sense of sophistication, simple and modern with Middle Eastern decorating touches, such as the wall of large colored lanterns to accent the otherwise muted tones of the dining room, with cedar and ceiling-high windows overlooking the street. I came during one of the heaviest tourist weeks of the year for the area, as early April is primetime season for when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Accordingly Lebanese Taverna had a "Cherry Blossom Special" of the week, a rack of lamb, marinated with garlic, rosemary, and zaatar over a morello cherry cabernet reduction with fava beans and grape tomatoes - the pink lamb meat and red cherry sauce and tomatoes to celebrate the blooming trees! The dish uses holistic, prime Elysian field rack of lamb, and the Lebanese chefs know their lamb. The menu includes lamb done many ways: stewed lamb, braised lamb shank, lamb loin, lamb chop, spicy sausage, and in casseroles. Now that's options.

In a proper Lebanese meal you begin with the mezze, which in Arabic means snack and in the Eastern Mediterranean is a selection of appetizers or small dishes, similar to the Spanish tapas concept. The mezze menu includes the crispy spicy sausage, which was too charred for my taste and used to fatty a cut of meat, stuffed grape leaves, and m'saka, eggplant ratatouille cooked with chickpeas and tomatoes, my personal favorite. The falafel was decent (but I've had better - I've had some fabulous falafel) but needed more cumin and less green onions. The complimentary pita was stale.

The service was poor; though the server was friendly she messed up the order, and the food preparation was poorly timed and brought to the table irregularly, so the grilled vegetable side dish came out with the mezze and had grown cold by the time our entrees arrived. There was a particularly long wait between the courses - though perhaps a cultural difference as non-American patrons are used to taking more time to digest, it was still problemmatic with the parking meter running. When the main meals finally came, it was worth the wait, as they were all well-executed. The mouzat (braised lamb shank) was slow-cooked in a hearty tomato sauce with burghul pilaf so that it fell off the bone, and the sharhat ghanam (grilled lamb loins) were tender, juicy cuts of meat served in a tasty three-green herb sauce with a crisp aftertaste with a hint of mint to cleanse the palate. The kasteleta (the dish's lamb chop version) was also well-executed; no part of that lamb was spared. The fatteh, warm yogurt casserole with chickpeas, pomegranate seeds, and pine nuts, could be made with eggplant, chicken, or lamb (of course), and though plated attractively it had too much yogurt and not enough pomegranates,in my opinion the best part since they literally explode in your mouth. The same dish is better at nearby restaurant Bacchus. For the seafood friendly, the salmon meshwi, grilled with vegetables and served with tomato salsa and (undercooked) burghul pilaf, was also well-received. The menu is also family-friendly, catering to the young families in the Bethesda clientele, with a "Little Ones" selection with pita pizzas for the kids. This doesn't help the restaurant noise level, however, as the spacious dining area already creates a cacophony when the place is at full capacity. On a Friday night in Bethesda, it's always full - and for good reason.

Food: 4/5 stars.
Ambience: 3.5 stars.
Service: 2/5 stars.
Experience: priceless.