Kababji Grill

Kababji Grill

1351 Connecticut Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20036-1801
(202) 822-8999

The occasion was the graduation of our daughter, Roya, with her MA from Georgetown in English.  (Isn’t she clever!)  The idea was to mark the occasion with a meal to honor her and three of the other graduates from the same program with a good meal.  Three sets of parents and other friends and supporters made this a party of twelve.

We originally planned to go to an Indian restaurant but changed our minds as some of the party didn’t like Indian food.  So we booked a table for twelve of us at Kababji, a Lebanese restaurant on Connecticut Avenue about half a block away from Dupont Circle.  We weren’t disappointed.

Kababji was founded in Lebanon in 1993, and it has expanded all over the Middle East with branches in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.  This restaurant opened in 2009 and is the first Kababji in North America.  The food concept is to serve fresh food with healthy Lebanese/Mediterranean ingredients in a simple and modern atmosphere.  The menu and cooking are exactly what you’d expect on a Lebanese menu with an emphasis clearly on excellence in execution rather than innovation.  Main courses are (as the name of the restaurant suggests) mostly kababs cooked on an open fire and brought straight to the table.

We started off with mezze.  Each of us ordered a traditional Middle Eastern appetizer, which we passed around the table.  (The portions were enormous.)  I ordered foul medammas, a dish that I had fallen in love with on a business trip to Egypt a few years ago.  It consists of mashed fava beans, chopped parley, lemon juice, chopped tomatoes and spices.  Traditionally served for breakfast in Egypt, part of the fun of this dish is to put it together yourself so that you can decide for yourself on the proportions of each ingredient.  At Kebabji, it comes already assembled — delightful but my memories of the “real thing” in Cairo left me feeling just faintly disappointed.  (I also missed the charm of this dish being transliterated as foul madams as it appeared on the menu in Cairo!)

The other appetizers — and I tried most of them — included hommos (their spelling), baba ganoush, and mashed chick peas with yoghurt.  I was especially impressed with the baba ganoush, an eggplant puree, which had the distinctive smoky flavor but without tasting artificial.  The eggplant is flamed over an open fire to give it the smoky taste and then blended with tahini, salt, lemon, and olive oil.  Simple, healthy and delicious!

I had grilled lamb chops for my main course.  The chops had been marinated with lemon, olive oil, parsley, and spices, and were served medium.  It was very good indeed.

Most of us had no dessert although the restaurant kindly provided tiramisu and sparkling wine for each of the graduates.  Some of us (very good) Turkish coffee.

Since this was a large party, they automatically added a service charge, and the bill for all twelve people — with about two thirds of us drinking wine or cocktails — was $431.  A very good value, considering the location, the nice decor, and the quality of the food.

The only negative on this restaurant was the service.  Although he was obviously trying hard to give us a pleasant and memorable experience, our waiter forgot some orders, forgot to ask certain members of the party what they wanted, and, when the food came, he seemed to have a hard time getting the right dish to the right person.

I didn’t photograph the beautifully presented food as I was too busy talking and eating.  But, if you are thinking of going to this restaurant, I would encourage you to go their website where they have an excellent collection of photographs of the restaurant and the food.