Skip to main content

Tysons Corner VA: Lebanese Taverna

Tyson's Galleria is a very fancy shopping center with several restaurants, many of which are large chains. Lebanese Taverna is a pleasant exception, a local chain of restaurant with delicious food.

My meal started with these hot, fresh pitas. The olive oil had, I think, a little zatar. The bread was soft, pillowy, and wonderfully comforting.

This is my eggplant fatteh. The eggplant is near the top, lying on a bed of pita chips and chick peas. The sauce looks remarkably like gravy but seems to be more like a tahini sauce with a few chick peas thrown in. I poured the sauce on and dug into a luscious dish. The eggplant was rich and slightly smoky. The chips maintained their crunch, giving extra texture. The herbs rounded out the palate. I really enjoyed this food and I can imagine eating here again.

I went back with my friend Tom for a quick lunch during our conference. My chicken was succulent. The roasted vegetables were very nice, the roasted potatoes were great. On the left side you can see some onion marinated in vinegar which made a great contrast.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.