Cheap Eats 2007: Lebanese Butcher & Restaurant

Reviewed by Todd Kliman , Ann Limpert , Cynthia Hacinli , Don Rockwell , Michele Kayal

Lebanese Butcher & Restaurant

109 E. Annandale Rd.
Falls Church, VA 22046
Phone: 703-533-2903

Cuisines:
Lebanese, Middle Eastern

Opening Hours:

Wheelchair Accessible:
Yes

Nearby Metro Stops:
East Falls Church

Price Range:
Inexpensive

Dress:
Informal

Noise Level:
Intimate

Reservations:
Not Accepted

Special Features:
Kid Friendly

Best Dishes
Baba ghanoush; lamb fateh, a kind of casserole of pita chips topped with braised hunks of lamb and thick yogurt; Cornish hens cooked over the grill and sided with rice; tender slices of shwarma served entrée-style with rice or slipped into a round of pita and slathered with tahini.

Price Details:
Appetizers $3.99 to $5.99; entrées $6.95 to $14.99


 

Reader's Rating:
No Reader Reviews

Place your order at this well-kept cafe, then troll the adjoining butcher shop/grocery for Middle Eastern specialties like the eight-pound containers of tahini on the shelves and the gorgeous array of halal meats in the lighted case—owner Kheder Rababeh buys whole animals and butchers them himself.

Then sit down to a feast that might begin with aya meze, 13 not-so-little appetizers—it’s hard not to fixate on the lush and smoky baba ghanoush, the lemony tabbouleh, or the crusty meat- and nut-filled ovals called kibbeh.

From there go on to more substantial pleasures like the multilayer lamb, yogurt, and fried pita pileup known as fateh, here elevated by the wonderful house lamb.

Whatever you order, you’re going to be carting something home.

Open daily for lunch and dinner.