If you haven’t heard already – the next Top Chef is going to be quite an incestuous one. DC is representing with Bryan Voltaggio of VOLT, and Mike Isabella of Jose Andres’ Zaytinya competing for the Top Chef nod. But the competition becomes personal as Michael Voltaggio – Bryan Voltaggio’s brother and head chef of José Andrés’s Bazaar in Los Angeles – joins the competition for the top spot. See all the connections?
Well what this means for me is that (+) I get to see some inspired dishes from the chef of one of my fave restos in DC (Z) – ANDDD the chef of Bazaar!!!, (-) I will be less inclined to visit the already overbooked Zaytinya until the buzz from the TV show wears off.
Which led me to my mission – I needed a reliable alternative to the Z.
I heard praises about Me Jana and had high hopes for it to be the ‘one’, within a 5 minutes drive of my place… But my introductory visit there made me realize an error in my approach: Me Jana is not NEW Mediterranean cuisine… it is good traditional Lebanese cuisine and deserves to be appraised as such!
A Lebanese meal is often composed of different meze or small dishes. They come in 5-10 flights of different types of meze. Typically the meal has a pattern – it is started with olives, olive oil, and labneh (strained yogurt); then a salads and spreads, followed by a vegetable course, light seafood course, light meat course, and heartier stews and braised meats. Read more on mezze.
In true Lebanese fashion the Me Jana started off our meal with the gratis olive oil, zatar, olives, and labneh along with the warm, puffed pita bread. The pita bread has been something I have come to look forward to in my trips to Lebanese restos and lame pita has often been the downfall for some of the better reputed restaurants in my books. Here it was warm, puffy, and fluffy – although the pleasure only lasted the duration that it was warm. The gratis appetizers/dips were a nice touch, although the olives had an odd soapy flavor.
Then came the stellar mezze. The babaganoush did not disappoint. It was smooth, smoky and tangy – all that a good baba is supposed to be. The calamari with cilantro and garlic had just the right texture, the shrimp was deliciously prepared with tomatoes garlic, parsley and herbs. Thyme fries were crispy and golden and the herbs gave it a nice kick.
I realized the flaw in my compare/contrast approach as I pitted the two staple dishes – the Dolmeh (Grape Leaves) and Kibbeh – with the Z’s. The Dolmeh was described on the menu as having a “hint of pomegranate molasses,” which led me to the hope that this may indeed be the dish to rival the Z. As I dug into the dolmeh I searched for the sweet taste of pomegranate molasses that I hoped would offset the sour grape leaves…which left me so unsatisfied. As for the kibbeh, it had a beautiful brown crispy shell with a nice flavor of lamb, pine nuts and a hint of cinnamon, but it lacked the sweetness from the currants that I have grown accustomed to. It’s going to take a little getting used to – a re-learning experience – but the truth is that kibbeh and dolmeh aren’t supposed to be sweet!
The meal ended with Achta – phyllo dough stuffed with milk pudding, bananas, honey, pistachios and drizzled with rose honey. Fragrant, sweet, crispy, rich… this dish was the perfect ending to the meal…that I had inadvertently destroyed.
I claim to love Middle Eastern food, yet I have lost my ability to enjoy it in its most traditional form. Come next time, I hope to look at my experience differently from start to finish – not a compare and contrast, but rather enjoying the flavors that Lebanon has to offer. From my self-sabotaged experience, I’m pretty confident that this time, it won’t disappoint.
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