The Beirut — Restaurant in Toledo

One of the best Middle Eastern/Lebanese restaurants in nation. As I recall, previously, possibly currently still, rated in top 50 ME restaurants in USA in Zagat Guide. Things to try: For the more adventurous, the RAW KIBEE. Light seasoning, bulgar wheat, finely ground beef/lamb top with a lovely radish! Drizzle fresh olive oil on the kibee, spread on fresh, (ideally warm) pita and it is heaven. Even better when a swipe of Beruit Hummus is added to the kibee pita sandwhich! Or, babaganous (eggplant dip). I also prefer to use a slice of cucumber on my little raw kibee/hummus, pita sandwiches! All items are either free additions, such as veggies, onions, cukes, radishes, pita etc. Additional charge for hummus and babaganous but it's ALWAYS worth it!

Another amazing specialty are the side of mushrooms, sautéed in a special high heat tolerant butter product. They are simply AMAZING! The arrive on smallish sized oval platter - heaped up, lovely, brown, buttery, but not soft and mushy and not overly brown and crispy. Always lovely whole mushrooms and always fantastic!

My father's favorite dish was the tender steak tips beautifully sautéed and piled high on larger platter swirled with the fantastic Beruit Hummus! Used to be big enough for super hearty eater father and mother to split.

The one thing greatly missed, though - Tiger Bakery fresh baked and delivered pitas. Tiger bakery, very closely located to Beruit, literally can see it from the Beruit parking lot, lost their two,hearth ovens at least 15 years ago. There is nothing that matches Tiger Bakery pita, unfortunately. There was, at one time, a small, local Detroit/Ann Arbor family owned chain that produced equally wonderful, fresh from brick hearth pita bread for,their restaurants, each location always baked their own bread and it was delivered hot, ballooned up and ready to be used for making wonderful little hummus, babaganous and veggie sandwiches with the ingredient tucked inside the inflated and empty pocket made by the fresh from hot brick hearth ovens and delivered directly to table with fresh, cold pats of high quality butter. Unfortunately, this business folded, all locations, directly after 9/11. As I recall, they were possibly involved in funding radicals involved in the attacks. Many Middle Eastern families contributed monies to support important causes such as funding schools in the Middle East, yet weren't aware that the money was being funneled to,support radical terrorist organizations involved in attacks - happened to a wonderful deli/grocer in Toledo. Don't recall if this was the situation with the only other producer of wonderful brick heath baked pitas in this small family chain of restaurants located in Detroit metro region. That is the only missing item of pure perfection at the Beruit - their Tiger Bakery pitas. Possibly they have found a better alternative, but, I'm guessing not as even the Tiger Bakery hasn't packets of pita, imported mostly from Detroit, that matches the superior taste of their own brick hearth ovens. So many other delicious items at the Beruit - such as any steak. Try anything at the Beruit and I'm sure that you'll love it! I'm now curious about these lamb chops - will eventually have...

Since our move, the Beirut is about an hour away - we thought worth the trip. We arrived a bit after 5pm on Friday, to a half empty parking lot. A disheveled host asked since it was only 2 of us, if we'd mind sitting in the bar area; we complied. We sat unattended for about 10 minutes, when an abrupt woman approached asking us to move to the next table, that clearly the one we were sitting at had 4 place-mats. So we moved to the next table (same size, same wall, same view). We joked between ourselves about the effort in removing 2 place-mats. We ordered cocktails and apps - hummus and tabouleh. The hummus and pita were very good. The tabouleh was a faded olive green color (not vibrant parsley green), and the chopped tomatoes therein were mushy and transparent, almost slimy. When I asked the wait staff is she could get us a fresh order, she replied it was just made. (huge tabouleh fans, this salad was a few days old). We ordered shrimp and trout. The trout was good, the shrimp was rubbery and had the flavor of what would be used for shrimp cocktail. I asked the wait staff for a condiment like their lemon tahini sauce to dip the shrimp for flavor, she said it would cost extra - I shrugged and agreed. She did not bring me anything. The rice also tasted refrigerator stale. We did not see her again until she brought our bill accompanied by 2 pieces of baklava; we would have liked to have ordered another drink, but instead paid the bill and left. This used to be a Toledo treasure - we...

A linchpin of the Toledo restaurant scene for decades, the Beirut holds a special place in my heart as the definitive experience that turned my 8 year old self on to the exploratory possibilities of world cuisine.

Raised up to that point on Appalachian staples and American classics, I will never forget the pivotal moment that my father's artist friend thrust a plate of strange-smelling, intimidatingly-colored stuffed grape leaves in my face as smoke swirled around the dim, carpeted lounge. My father's friend was charismatic and struck me as interesting and intelligent, and so I, wanting badly to show how cultured I could be, braced myself and took a trepidatious bite.

My mouth was flooded with foreign textures and exciting new tastes, and in that instant, my young mind and palate were forever recalibrated as adventurously open.

I still hold the Beirut as the gold standard for much Lebanese fare, particularly dolmades and hummus, etc. But really, I am not looking to duplicate the Beirut's food when I dine out elsewhere. I'm looking to recapture that transportative feeling of surprised awe and unexpected delight, which so captivated my third grade self.

However, for consistent, delicious Lebanese food, I have enjoyed the Beirut since 1995 and will continue to for as long as the good lord allows. PS I was too hungry to photograph my food at the restaurant. Pictured are my scrumptious...