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    Restaurant Review: Little Lebanon

    Little Lebanon gets fawning online reviews. Lots of capital letters and exclamation points and terms such as “the best” and “fantastic”. The eatery’s customers display an undying devotion to both the house goods and its proprietors.

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    And for good reason, on both accounts. The friendly owners, a husband and wife team, hustle between the front of the house and back of the house.

    Little Lebanon occupies a small spot out in the Polaris area. The front of the house is a bakery. The shelves are filled with baklava in every flavor imaginable: chocolate pecan, cream, nutty things. At an adjacent bakery counter, there are tarts and pieces of chocolate pie.

    But perched above all those mouth-watering sweets is a menu on the back wall and with it a television screen that flashes photos of savory meals served in big portions.

    Grape Leaves ($3.99) are a popular starter. An order yields a little collection of cigar shaped rolls with the perfect ratio of soft, supple leaves and flavorful rice.

    For bigger appetites, the menu offers pita wraps, flatbreads and full-on entree options.

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    Like the grape leaves, the Pita Wraps ($6.99) are tightly packed and expertly rolled for secure gorging. Inside the pita is a little lettuce and tomato, soft french fries and a long slender strip of a mildly exotic pickle. All that goodness accompanies a choice of meat: chicken, beef or lamb. The beef is a great choice here; it’s cut into thin, tender strips that blend in harmoniously with the filling.

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    Or Lebanese Breads. You can watch them being baked and poked with the long spatula (pizza peel) in a fiery hot oven that’s stationed behind the counter at the back of the house. The flat bread has a chewy base, and the favorite topping tried so far is the Manaish Za’Atar ($2.49), a dense mixture of herbs and spices: oregano, parsley, mint, sumac, sesame seeds and olive oil.

    The Chicken Shawarma Bread ($6.49) was okay too. It’s basically cheese and chicken on bread, with a little garlic undercurrent. Bonus points for the careful distribution of chicken strips throughout the pie… but the Manaish version is much more interesting.

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    Kebabs are a new addition to the menu. Unsurprisingly, they’re good: it’s hard to make a bad kebab. At Little Lebanon, the Chicken version ($14.99 dinner/8.49 lunch) has grilled peppers and tomatoes in the mix. Everything is cut into bite sized pieces (as opposed to great big globs on a stick) -that means there’s lot of surface area for optimal grilled accents. The rice underneath the kebabs plays more than a supporting role: it’s seasoned and populated with teeny bits of vegetables. It’s rice worth eating.

    The favorite thing, the absolute favorite find so far is the Red Snapper ($15.99/$8.99) (pictured up top). It’s a thick filet topped with a viscous red sauce that tastes of natural tomato and carrot. The dish is different, it’s perfect, and it comes with more of that rice.

    During the meal, the desserts will be staring at you from inside the bakery case. Before any post-game decisions could be made, the proprietor came out with a gratis piece of Cream Baklava (no wonder people love her). She makes them herself. The pastry layers are light and airy and infused with a sweetness that could launch a full-on bakery binge.

    You can do your own binging at Little Lebanon at 8495 Sancus Blvd.

    For more information, visit www.littlelebanonbakery.com.

    Photos by Mollie Lyman of www.fornixphotography.com.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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