The cafe is small, with a half-dozen tables, and spotless.  Food is displayed behind glass cases, and wisely so, because I suspect lots of folks do not know what kibbi is, or whether baba ganoush is a character in a children's book, or has heard the word falafel, and maybe even tabbouli, but have little idea of its color or shape or flavor. The pastry case is a different story . . . . . muffins, baklava, pies, cakes, these are sort of universal and everyone knows a dessert when they see one.

Eating at Phoenecia Cafe is very casual.  Paper plates and plastic utensils are used, and it is self-service at the counter.  The drinks are in a glass door cooler, and are self-serve, also.  I liked the clementine fizz and the watermelon fizz, by the way . . . both were very refreshing and tasty.  Food is served on plastic plates and platters.  This is dictionary definition casual dining, but don't let it dissuade you from going there.  

We ordered just about one of everything.  We started off our visits with the baba ganoush, tabbouli, and manaqish.  Baba ganoush is roasted eggplant that is pureed with lemon, lots of garlic and tahini, and is served with Syrian bread (unlevened, sometimes referred to as pita).  Tahini is a thick paste made from ground sesame seeds. The Syrian bread serves as the eating utensil . . . . you simply take a scoop of the baba ganoush with a piece of the bread.  The Cafe's version is just what I remembered from my Lebanese baker twenty years ago, and it was very good.  

Tabbouleh is a mixture of chopped parsley, tomato, onion, lemon, olive oil and wheat bulghur.  This, also, is eaten with Syrian bread, and was fresh and freshening in flavor. I prefer mine with more bulghur than this one, but it was good nonetheless. The manaqish, as previously mentioned, is Lebanese bread dough baked with Lebanese herbs and spices. At the Cafe it is served warm, and it, also, transported me back in time.  The herbs include mint, parsley, sesame seeds, and thyme, among others, and are spread over the dough, which is then folded over the herbs, before baking.  

We followed these with spinach pie, kibbi and lamb chops.  You must remember that this is Lebanese food, and not Greek, so the spinach pie is not the phyllo dough and feta cheese version.  Chef Bordkan makes his own dough, and fills it with chopped spinach, chopped onion, diced tomatoes and Lebanese spices, and it is an individual pie in serving.  It was also quite good, and, in fact, I am eating the leftovers as I am writing this column tonight.  

Kibbi is a meat dish.  Seasoned, ground beef is combined with bulghur wheat and shaped into a hollow pie shell, which, in turn, is stuffed with marinated, ground beef and seasonings, and baked. It is served here with a yogurt dip that has some mint in it.  The kibbi was flavorful, but just a little dry.  The yogurt dip helped overcome this, and the end result was good.  I'm also eating a little of this as I am writing.

The lamb chops, four in number, were meaty and quite flavorful.  The menu describes them as "delectable," and that is an apt description, also.  I'm not quite sure what the marinade is, but it works very well.  The lamb was served with some really good ratatouille, a vegetable dish with. . . . wait a minute, let me take another bite so I get this right . . . . diced carrot, diced zucchini squash, diced onion, diced green pepper, an awful lot of garlic, and, oh, there's some eggplant, too, and olive oil, all sauteed together but still retaining their shape and structure so as to be crunchy, too.  Just a plate of the ratatouille and some Syrian bread, and maybe manaqish, and I've a very satisfying meal.

The menu also includes a number of sandwiches and burgers, as well as salads to choose from, and main dish offerings are grilled shrimp, shish kabob and shish taouk, and chicken curry.  You might want to try the kafta sandwich wrap . . seasoned, ground lamb mixed with onions and parsley, served in Syrian bread wrap with hummus, onion, lettuce, tomato, parsley and ketchup.  Or, perhaps, you might want to try the shish taouk . . .marinated, grilled chicken served in a Syrian bread wrap with garlic dip, lettuce, mushrooms, fried potatoes and ketchup, then roasted.  These are different and very good sandwiches worth trying, something other than the usual luncheon fare.

Although I had no room left for dessert following my last visit, I nonetheless knew I would in about an hour.  So, I brought a piece of baklava home, and enjoyed it with a cup of tea.  Again, remember, this is Lebanese food, not Greek, so the baklava is not the phyllo dough version you might expect.  Chef Bordkan makes his own sweet dough, more substantial than phyllo, although the filling is what you would expect- - - walnuts and honey - - and his version is worth trying.  I wished I had brought home two pieces, because I'm going to be looking for something sweet as soon as this column is done and published.

Everything other than the sandwiches were our dinner last night that these leftovers (now almost gone) came from, and the check was around $60. The lamb chops were a bargain at $13.99, and the kibbi was $7.75.  The Phoenecia Cafe is quite reasonably priced, if not under-priced for the quality of the food we ate.  It's casual and quaint, almost like eating at a friend's house, and everything on the menu is available as take-out, too. The Cafe is also on the way home from my office, and I suspect I'll be stopping often in the evening to pick up some little savory thing to enjoy when I get home.  Cape Dining Out rates the Phoenecia 3.5 Cods, in the family-friendly category of restaurants, and suggests you stop by there soon, too. It's a different cuisine, but well turned out, and worthy of your visit to sample.

If you go . . . . . .

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