It wasn’t Lebanese food that attracted me to Taste of Lebanon in Leesburg. In fact, it was a Palestinian dish that I used to enjoy at my favorite restaurant in Houston. Musakhan was what brought me to the dance, but it wasn’t what kept me there. The comfortable restaurant, it turned out, is a prime address for Meaty Monday, with more than one combo platter with multiple meats. Basically, the place is not only carnivore heaven, it’s halal, so its meat is safe for a population that doesn’t have all the options that I do.
The musakhan, though flavorful with allspice and sumac onions, was a bit of a disappointment due to the undercooked onions on top (they’re supposed to be caramelized, but were still crunchy). But for $14.99, I got the oversized plate above, the accurately named Mediterranean Delight.
The square plate was filled with sumac-dusted rice as well as a zingy pepperoncini and feta-topped salad. A folded-over pita absorbed the juices of three different proteins. My favorite of these was the thin slices of gyro meat, crisped just as they should be and ready to be wrapped in the pita with a bit of salad and dipped in the tangy yogurt sauce that accompanied the dish. I’m used to shish taouk being served on a skewer, but the lemon-and-oregano-flavored strips of tender chicken were small enough to absorb even more marinade than bigger chunks would have. The kofta were sized and shaped somewhere between full-length skewers and meatballs, with plenty of crisp surface area to enhance the juicy, onion-and-herb-dotted center of the ground beef and lamb.
There’s still more to try. Future Meaty Mondays for me might include kibbeh followed by arayes and some kebabs. As I said, there’s no skimping on well-spiced flesh at Taste of Lebanon. // 510 E. Market St., Leesburg
For more restaurant reviews, subscribe to our Food newsletter.
