Beirut Restaurant and Deli – West St. Paul, MN

Beirut is right down the street from D.Rough and my place (not the actual City of Beirut, but the Lebanese restaurant named after the city). We drive by it all the time and keep meaning to check it out. Tonight, we made it our mission to discover what sorts of things they have there.

The inside is well-let and there’s a small stage in the dining room, presumably where the belly dancers they have some evenings perform. We were seated immediately since there were only a few tables being used, and given menus to look at. They have a full bar, so we started with the drink portion of the menu. They honestly have a pretty interesting cocktail menu, so I ended up getting something ridiculously girly (something with chocolate liquor and that tasted like the most delicious candy in the world) and D.Rough got something more tame – a mojito.

The menu has a lot of things we recognize from our other culinary excursions. Kebabs, stuffed grape leaves, tabouli, etc. But we kept coming back to the Mezza combination. This is a traditional meal setting in Lebanon, according to the menu. It’s basically a little of everything. And for the price, you get to try almost everything on the menu for a ridiculously cheap price. If both people got an appetizer and an entrée, it would be the same amount as the Mezza. And there’s a TON more food. So if you’re hungry or can eat a lot, go Mezza.

They start by bringing a LARGE selection of appetizers: Hummus bi-tahini, tabouli, cabage rolls, falafel, kibbee (baked or raw), baba ghannooj, stuffed grape leaves, shawirma, and an olive plate. Yes, ALL of these things. I wasn’t kidding when I said it’s worth the money. They also keep bringing out delicious Lebanese bread (like pita bread), so you’ll be eating a lot of that, just a warning.

We devoured all of everything they brought. Our most favorite was probably the hummus, which was sooooo much better than store-bought stuff, although we did have some squabbles over the shawirma, falafel, cabbage rolls, grape leaves, and Kibbee. The only thing we weren’t fighting over was the baba ghannooj. It didn’t stop us from eating it all, but it just wasn’t our favorite.

Then they bring out your choice of two kabobs for each person. We got a chicken Shish ta-ook, and the lamb lahem mishwe. The chicken we thought was going to be simple and sort of plain, but it’s the best chicken skewer I can remember eating. Such good flavor in this thing. The mishwe is sort of ground up meat molded and cooked on a skewer. The meat they used was really good quality and was very tender and flavorful.

Now that we found out how awesome this place is, it’s going to be very difficult not to come back here when we need our Lebanese fix. The food really is top notch and very affordable. The people are really nice and they have awesome cocktails. Oh, and the belly dancers – which we didn’t get to see yet. Soon!!!!

Top 5 things about Beirut Restaurant and Deli
1. Hummus bi-tahini
2. Stuffed grape leaves
3. Cocktail menu
4. Shawirma
5. Cabbage rolls

Bottom 5 things
1. We were on the wrong night to see the belly dancers – totally our fault though
2. Not sure where the deli part comes in, though they do sell jars of sauce and spices and such
3. Nothing else is going to make the bottom 5 list
4.
5.

www.beirutrestaurantanddeli.com

Emily’s Lebanese Food – Minneapolis, MN

I got recommendations for this place from a girl at work. She said if I liked Kristos, I would like Emily’s a lot. This should have been my first clue – Kristos is Greek, Emily’s is Lebanese (not Lesbanese like Coach was hoping). Lebanon is southeast of Greece, just in case you’re wondering. They use some of the same ingredients, but the flavors are different.

So I’ll state for the record, I’m not a fan of Middle Eastern cuisine. That being said, I’ll give Emily’s a fair shake.

Gerd and I did some research on Lebanese food so we’d have some idea what to order when we arrived. Fortunately, due to our investigation, the items looked familiar. And honestly, the descriptions looked really appetizing. There are a bunch of smaller things on the menu that you can mix and match and then there are some entrees. A couple of salads and appetizers round off the menu. It’s more comprehensive than I would have imagined.

I originally wanted to do the mix and match thing, but everything I planned to get was included on the combination dinner #2, plus I got Tabouli and bread. Gerd got a combination (#1) which was just a smaller version of my dinner. She also got hummus and a salad (instead of tabouli).

Gerd and I aren’t fans of tabouli, but I wanted to try it there. Rumor is, if it doesn’t taste like dirt, then it’s good tabouli. This must have been good tabouli, since there was no dirt flavor, but the whole thing would have been better with strips of bacon and deep fried. It was good as tabouli goes, but it’s not a personal favorite. Gerd loved her salad. She’s a fan of the dressing which had a sort of “creamy tang” (which I giggle when I hear her say that). The hummus was really good as far a hummus goes. Gerd said there was some kick to it, but vanilla yogurt is too spicy for her. There was no spice. It was good anyway.

The meals came out and looked delicious. They came with stuffed grape leaves, cabbage wraps, and kibbi, which I refer to as meat brownies. Mine also came with a stuffed zucchini and a meat pie (also makes me giggle), which I referred to as a Lebanese hot pocket. The grape leaves are stuffed with ground lamb, rice, pine nuts, and cinnamon. The cabbage wraps were stuffed with rice, cinnamon, ground lamb, and pine nuts, and the zucchini was stuffed with, (you guessed it) pine nuts, ground lamb, cinnamon, and rice. So yes, these all sort of tasted the same, but had a different wrapper. The other things I really liked. The meat brownie (kibbi) was really good. It was kind of a lamb meatloaf brick with pine nuts, and cinnamon, and no rice. They were really good. Maybe they weren’t seasoned the exact same way, so they ended up being good. The Lebanese hot pocket (meat pie) was the best thing on the plate. Light flakey crust, and just take a guess at what was inside.

We brought home a LOT of food since the portions were enormous. Seriously large. So in my eyes, the place is good if you like Middle Eastern food. However, if you don’t, then don’t venture south of Greece. Some things were good though, so I’m sure the food is delicious. It’s just not my thing. However, I’m a big enough person to say the place is good.

Top 5 things about Emily’s
1. Salad dressing (homemade and sell it to go)
2. Enormous portions
3. Hummus
4. Lebanese Hot Pocket
5. Cute local deli/restaurant

Bottom 5 things
1. Same ingredients, different wrapper
2. I don’t think they have restrooms
3. Gerd assumes they won’t sing to you on your birthday
4. The berps afterwards don’t taste good
5. We had to look up where Lebanon was… I admit it