Lebanese Taverna spices up Silver Spring

Lebanese Taverna, celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, opened a new café in the heart of Silver Spring this summer. The restaurant is located on Ellsworth Street, between the AFI and Majestic movie theaters, surrounded by inviting outdoor tables, a fountain lit with multicolored lights and live music every Thursday and Saturday night.

The restaurant's interior has a mix of vibes: industrially sterile, yet warmly authentic and unapologetically yuppie. The space seems better suited for a nightclub than a restaurant. Factory-like ceiling fans and stage lights hang from the high ceilings, while various ornate Lebanese ceramic platters and mirrors hang on the walls. And although Lebanese Taverna features cafeteria-style eating, it is a much more upscale dining experience than the local Baja Fresh, and few entrees break the $10 mark.

What makes eating at Lebanese Taverna feel like dining at a formal restaurant are all of the little extras. The tabletops are granite, the counters are real wood, the silverware is metal, the dishes are painted, and there is plenty of light from the large windows. The quality of the food doesn't hurt either.

Upon walking in, one is enticed by a variety of chocolates and cookies from France, Austria, Greece - even four flavors of Arab Chiclets - alongside home- baked Lebanese desserts. The menu is full of Lebanese regulars, including hummus, baba ghanouj, falafel, and grape leaves, as well as rotisserie chicken, mezza combo platters and a kids' menu. The hummus is creamy and smooth, topped with olive oil, chopped parsley and paprika, and comes with freshly baked, piping hot pita bread. The flavors not overpowering or bland, but seasoned to perfection with right mix of spices.

Representing the mezza combos is the Suzanne Platter: chicken shawarma, shashouky, Lebanese salad and hummus. The chicken shawarma is pulled white meat with lots of lemon and a hint of pepper. Not fancy, but quite tasty and addictive. Shashouky is a delicious light eggplant and tomato salad. The Lebanese salad consists of cucumber, tomato, onion and fresh green pepper, and its minty crunch nicely balances the hummus.

Chicken kabob is one of those foods that is often highly mediocre or misses the mark, but at Lebanese Taverna it can only be described as perfection. Grilled tender chunks of white meat, with a pinch of pepper, are served alongside rice, salad and grilled onion in a tomato and onion sauce. The dish also comes with a side of garlic dip, which is heaven materialized as garlic puree. The dip goes with the chicken and the bread, and even outshines the hummus. The salad is uneventful, but it can be forgiven.

The fatteh blahmeh, with its unappetizing phonetic pronunciation, tastes like it sounds. This is a multi-layered dish: lamb covered in deep fried pieces of pita bread, drenched in yogurt sauce with salt, garlic and lemon. The yogurt is sour and the bread quite crunchy, and the lamb is seasoned with mint as well as other herbs. The problem is that there are simply too many flavors mixed together. The dish tries too hard, and fails.

For dessert, the baklava is an excellent choice. Baklava is a mix of ground nuts in a honey-like rosewater syrup, topped with flaky pastry and a sprinkle of ground pistachio. The pastry is surprisingly flavorful and the syrup is rich but and delicious. This dessert is an excellent way to wash some of the garlic out of your mouth, but a few Arabic Chiclets (which taste just like their American counterparts) help, too.

However, the service is only mediocre. The cashier speaks little English and it is hard to hear the order numbers being called over the music and the noise (the acoustics are terrible), but one only has to wait a few minutes the food is ready.

And Silver Spring's inviting new atmosphere adds to the restaurant's appeal. This Saturday a keyboard and percussion ensemble is playing upbeat Jamaican rhythms outside the large glass cafe building. Walking along the bustling sidewalk, a passing woman marvels, "It's like Silver Spring is alive!"

At Lebanese Taverna, the best dishes are not especially exotic, but they are certainly not bland. With the option of the mezza platters, you won't be stuck with just one flavor per dish. The portions are plentiful, as is the parking, so come on by and enjoy the best of what Lebanese cooking has to offer.