Business & Tech
Bites Nearby: Lebanese Taverna
With virtually limitless choices for dining out in Silver Spring, how do you know which places are worth your hard earned dollars (and time)? Well, Bites Nearby will get you patched in to all the best places in the area.
Many times, we get stuck in dining ruts – eating the same things, from the same places and it can be a challenge to get out of it. It’s easy, it’s familiar – but where is the fun in that?
If you have not tried, or are not a fan of Middle Eastern food, may just convert you.
Just three short years after emigrating from Lebanon to Northern Virginia in 1976, the Abi-Najm family purchased their first restaurant in 1979 in Arlington. The original name was “Athenian Taverna,” but they quickly changed it to Lebanese Tavern - and a local legend was born.
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A true family affair, the Abi-Najms greeted guests, cooked and served food and the younger ones would even finish their homework at the tables. Now in 2011, there are seven Lebanese Taverna locations, including the Ellsworth Drive location here in Silver Spring.
The menu runs the gamut from appetizers including lentil soup, tabouleh (a parsley and bulgar wheat salad) and Lebanese salad, to traditional lunch and dinner entrees like kibbeh (stuffed meatballs), shawarma (rotisserie meat), grape leaves and lamb dishes to unique desserts like awamat (fried donuts with honey-saffron syrup), and sesame crème brulee.
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Lebanese Taverna is an excellent choice for vegetarian, with and extensive offerings such as cheese pies, roasted eggplant, grape leaves, various bean dishes, and the Middle Eastern staple, falafel.
Combination platters offer samplings of various delicacies and are fun to share with a date or friends.
My personal favorites are the kibbeh appetizer and shawarma sandwich platter with all the trimmings.
Lebanese Taverna is located at 933 Ellsworth Drive, Silver Spring. Mon-Thurs 11:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m., Fri-Sat 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. and Sun 12:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Call 301-588-1192 for more information.
