Post from Ellen's Blog:
LebTav, as the locals say
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I've been meaning to get to Lebanese Taverna for awhile (the one in Woodley Park), but something always comes up (Meskerem, Pasta Mia, Tryst, etc).  I finally went tonight to reunite with a group of friends from college, and was given the arduous tasks of both choosing the wine and having to choose from their bevvy of veggie options.  I was happy to see that they had a great selection and range of both Lebanese wines as well as other mostly Mediterranean wines. 

Although the service was miserably slow, the waiters were friendly and the fresh bread, when it finally arrived, was piping hot and delicious.  I shared a hummos and had a Shakshouky (roasted eggplant salad mixed with diced tomatoes, scallions, garlic, pomegranate extract and olive oil, served chilled) which was tasty but kind of cold and slimy in texture.  The promise of pomegranate extract  was what lured me in but it was undetectable in the dish.  The bread was definitely the highlight of the meal for me, and I ate way too much of it.  The Lebanese wine, Les Bretches, was solid, but I should have picked something sweeter to go with all that lemon and vinegar. 

Lebanese Taverna is the place to go if you have a lot of people to please (read:  a lot of vegetarians) and if you're looking to spend a whole evening lounging at your table waiting for service.  If I hadn't been yukking it up with the old crowd I would have been seriously aggravated with the slow service (and they charged us for two things we didn't eat). However, everything i tasted was fine, and their extensive menu is beckoning me back to be more adventurous with my ordering.

Reader Comments
  
Another great Meditterian place
By Madhu Jul 9th 2007 at 11:35 am EDT
If you're looking for something a bit more upscale, try Neyla in Georgetown, on Wisconsin and N, I believe. It was one of the best meals I've had in DC. They start you out with these amazing seasoned pita chips with homemade thick yogurt drizzled with olive oil and olives - a nice alternative to a bread basket. A lot of the food is tapas-style. I had their sampler platter (a good deal at $30 for 2 people) and it was fabulous. We also got a bottle of their shiraz (don't remember more details than this, sorry), which wasn't bad. I went with a group of friends, and we couldn't stop raving about it all weekend - it kind of killed the rest of the meals we shared because nothing could stand up to it.
Re: Another great Meditterian place
By Madhu Jul 9th 2007 at 11:36 am EDT
Wow - I butchered Mediterranean in that title. Sorry! No clue what I was doing there.
  
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