A week ago I visited the Bethesda location of Lebanese Taverna. Despite the Woodley Park location being one of my favorite DC restaurants, this is my first Lebanese Taverna visit since I started this blog.
Anyway, Bethesda location is a convenient walk from the Bethesda metro with plenty of parking around. The decor is pretty nice with high ceilings and, unlike many downtown DC places, not designed to be loud. (Note: My earlier comment that "The Woodley Park location is more impressive though." is retracted upon visiting the Woodley Park location again. They're both different, but both are quite nice in decor and ambiance.)
Lebanese Taverna does offer entrees, but I have always gotten several Mezze and shared them with people allowing me a wide variety of tastes. My dishes at this location this time were very good. I had the Kibbeh (meatballs of beef, lamb, burghul, pine nuts, almonds with yogurt), the shwarma (carved lamb & beef with tahini sauce), makdous (cured baby eggplant stuffed with walnuts, garlic, lemon, olive oil, pomegranate), the shankleesh (spiced aged feta), and some baba ghanough (eggplant dip). Most were strong, pungent and excellent, with baba ghanough being nothing special (although the person I split the meal with loves it here) and the baby eggplant/makdous being only pretty good, but not necessarily for everyone.
I have again been impressed by Lebanese Taverna, although I would probably rate Cava Mezze as slightly better than this visit, although you really cannot go wrong with either. I also need to remind myself to try an entree next time. I have had an entree from Lebanese Taverna catered into a former job site, which was extraordinary, but I do not know if it was from the Bethesda or Woodley Park location (equidistant).
(My rundown on the other locations)
Friday, August 13, 2010
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