Twelve years living in Washington, DC with its excellent variety of restaurants from around the world spoiled me. I worked in a Real Estate Brokerage whose owner was Lebanese and ended up frequenting many of DC's excellent Middle Eastern and Lebanese restaurants and cafes. I could point you to the best Halloumi sandwich and the freshest rotisserie chicken without a second's hesitation.
Sadly, there were some dry years in between those halcyon days and our arrival here. 16 years in fact. There was one Middle Eastern restaurant that I found in Atlanta - a place called Lawrence's which was better known for their belly dancers (who were not all that good) than their food.
Next came San Francisco, a city known for it's great food. Any hole in the wall found you great if not amazing Italian, seafood, sushi, Chinese or Thai food. There was a large population of emigres from all over the world there so it should have been a no brainer to find good Lebanese food. I did not find that to be the case. We looked, we tried everything from fancy joints to falafel huts. It was just "Meh".
After hearing about the dearth of Chinese food here in Charlotte, I held out little hope of finding good Lebanese food. How glad am I that I was DEAD WRONG!
La Shish Kebab is one of those places that you would drive right by unless you knew it was there. Fortunately for us, the local edition of Creative Loafing had done our homework for us by writing a review in their free weekly. Dave and I hopped right on it and didn't waste any time in checking this place out.
CL-CLT was spot on. The food was delicious and the proprietor was terrific.
I had a chicken shawarma, a dish of both delicacy and gusto - with loads of garlic. Their's was served over hummus with hand made pickles, fresh tomatoes, purple onion and a perfect blend of spices.
This dish truly knocked my socks off! Probably the best I've had.
Dave tried a variety of dishes including the handmade falafel, dolmas, foul medanna (a fava bean dish from Egypt) and fettoush. Everything was really fresh. The textures were wonderful. Absolutely the yummiest hummus I've ever had. There was a light, delicate homemade pita bread to use for dipping into the fava's of the foul medanna. It was bliss!
We weren't even out the door before I was messaging my friend Kitsy (another big fan of Lebanese cuisine) in DC to tell her that we had a date for this place next time she and her husband are in town visiting her family.
This is an inexpensive, quaint, healthy and delicious spot. Add it to your roster of regular stops here in Charlotte! The owner was attentive and informative - sharing suggestions when he learned Dave was a vegetarian. The setting wasn't fancy, but it was impeccably clean. Our food came out quickly and was presented beautifully. This may not be a fancy date night spot, but for excellent, fresh and flavorful food it's a big winner.
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