Getting To Beirut Restaurant’s Kibbee Aras and Beef Shwarama via 13abc

Posted on 18 January 2008 under BlogsMonroe, Restaurant Chit-Chat

This is a Kibbee Aras. I’d never seen one before. 13abc’s Zack Ottenstein planted the thing in front of me this afternoon and told me to eat it.

Definitely, this was the best Kibbee Aras I’ve ever had, bar none. It was fer Schnizzle.

Getting to the Kibbee Aras was another matter. And, for all of you BlogsMonroe regulars, you’ll be happy to know I ran into some Blonde Highlights along the way.

Ok, so I got attacked by the Blonde Highlights. Yeah, that’s decidedly more accurate.

Aaron’s Eagle Scout Acceptance Speech is now on DVD for a few folks, so we headed over to 13abc to give Zack his copy. Zack has taken Aaron on as a younger brother and they’ve got a tight friendship going, so it was natural for Aaron to want Zack to have a copy.

Once we got there Zack offered to give us a tour of the facility. The Disney-owned station is rather impressive, with its two major studios, five networked editing suites, packed control rooms, rather large newsroom and other more technical areas. (Master Control looks like NASA on a tighter budget.)

Once in the newsroom, Zack pointed around across to a desk, hollered, “I think you know this guy!”, and pointed at me. BlogsMonroe’s Blonde Highlights author and 13abc morning anchor Rebecca Regnier’s eyebrows shot up. “Dave??? I just now got off the phone with Robin!” (Robin is Rebecca’s sister, who authors the Befrazzled blog.) Rebecca came around, popping her head into an office to loudly whisper, “That Luna Pier Cook guy is out here!” After a handshake meeting and a few good laughs, Zack and I headed to talk tech while Rebecca and Aaron chatted. Once we got back to Rebecca and Aaron we chatted a bit more, and I received a solid hug (ok, it was kind of an attack!) from our newly-met friend-from-the-’net before we headed to the studio area.

Once we passed through the control room we stepped into the news studio. Aaron and I had a chance to chat with meteorologist Jay Berschback (quieter than I’d imagined) prior to Jeff Smith (just like he comes across) and Susan Ross Wells (no idea!) arriving at the anchor desk. A couple moments later and suddenly we were diving for the chairs on the Newsmakers set as the noon news started … live, right there in the room! It seemed to creep up on everyone earlier than even the anchors were prepared for. Good thing I moved, too … those monster cameras move on their own, and are downright dangerous!

One gent who deserves more attention than he probably gets is the young man who was standing between cameras one and two (there are three). When I used to visit the ABC station in Flint when I was Aaron’s age, each camera had an operator. There was also the Floor Director, and the prompter operator was off in the control room. There wasn’t a Floor Director in the 13abc studio today. And that young man was not only controlling the prompter … he was also controlling the three beastly cameras! Someone needs to get him a decent on-screen credit …

At the first commercial break we said goodbye to the on-air talent and followed Zack to the Beirut restaurant on Monroe St. for lunch. As we’d not been there before, Zack ordered us the Kibbee Aras, some Lentil Soup and, for me, a beautiful Beef Shawarma:

When Mary and I take Zack to a restaurant we invariably know the people who run the place, or are in the process of getting to know them. So it was rather fun at the Beirut to see that Zack not only has permission to visit the kitchens, but also the employees would come by the tables with cell phones to show off their grandkids! I already knew the kind of person Beirut owner Labib is, having had Chef Tad of the Frog Leg Inn introduce me to Labib at Taste of the Nation: Toledo last April. At that event I was able to put the two Chefs on high-def video, discussing the kind of charity work Labib is always involved in. At the restaurant today it was great to see this wonderful family working together, sharing lives and loves with their customers, their extended family.

The food was rather astonishing for a lunch. The Kibbee Aras, a deep-fried lamb, was crispy and somewhat golden on the outside while beaing beautifully moist and flavorful on the inside. I could have eaten another bowl of the authentically-Mediterranean Lentil Soup, rich and thick with its few ingredients and distinctive taste. And the Beef Shawarma was magnificent, with a wide range of flavors balanced perfectly to illustrate what a wrap sandwich should be.

Yes, I should have gotten a pic of Rebecca and I … but I honestly felt it a bit awkward to ask on a first meeting of someone I see on the news each morning. And unlike what she’s written once or so over on Blonde Highlights I still believe she doesn’t have any weight to lose. I can honestly say that now without any camera lens or broadcast transmission path in the way.

Yeah, I know. She’s a woman. There’s no way she’s gonna listen to that from the likes of me …

Read Comments

  1. 18 January 2008 @ 6:06 pm Posted by ria

    I’m gonna ramble on MidEastern cuisine here. I vacationed in Istanbul and it was the best food I’ve ever eaten! Better than France. I’m into health so this food is wonderful. The little boutique hotel in the ancient city where we stayed only served breakfast but it was a buffet. We were upstairs looking over the Bosporus Strait and all the turrets of the city every morning pigging out on yogurt that’s more like rich cream, our’s isn’t like this, and homemade jams, flat breads, scrambled eggs, and my favorite little item thats like a MidEastern taquito! The outside is deep fried and crunchy and the inside is Feta cheese. That Feta is not like ours either. I’d wipe these things out every morning. The coffee not so good, thick, muddy.

    For lunch we went to a place where we sat on a rug on the floor with pillows and low tables. There was a recess in the floor in the middle with ovens. Women sat around and flattened out the bread and baked it, and on top were griddles where they did meat. You could get a choice of toppings. When you get it, you fold it over but not before you put any type of spice you can imagine on it. This place is full of spices and there is always an assortment on the table. I got minced chicken and put some sort of hot spice, and paprika on it. For some reason they love cucumbers and those are condiments in the form of a dressing or in that wonderful creamy yogurt. There are places for lunch that serve buffet style platters of roasted chicken, lamb, or beef, with all types of fresh steamed vegetables, again with all the spices to choose from.

    We were super lucky. The best little restaurant in the old city is Rimmeli’s. It was across the alley from our hotel. We tried a lot of places and just kept going there. Everything I ate on that menu was superb. I remember chicken roulade, rolled around a pistachio filling, with a creamy tomato basil sauce. The salads are never overlooked. They have nuts, and orange slice, cheeses, their really good. The vegetables were always cooked perfectly, and the hospitality in Turkey is that if you frequent a place, they give you free stuff. We had it happen at other places so it must be a custom. By our last meal at Rimmeli’s, the owner, a real nice guy, brought us dessert, which may include any or all of honey, nuts, bananas, and orange slices. It was complimentary. While we were happy with that, he brought out an assortment of after dinner liqueurs on a tray and told us to enjoy. His place was primitive with little fireplaces in rooms with booths or long tables. I remember the feeling of being in a warm cave. While we drank the liquor we looked out the window and watched someone who was being shown persian rugs in a store below. They would spin them onto the floor from a pile. We had the best view.

    Oh I forgot they serve this great tea everywhere called Chi. It tastes like warm apple cider. If your looking to buy something you will get a cup of Chi.

  2. 18 January 2008 @ 8:05 pm Posted by RebeccaRegnier

    It was great to meet you in person. I was star struck! I’m glad you enjoyed the station tour. Lance is the name of the young man floor directing today. And sorry if I injured you in anyway.

    I should have taken a picture of you! I’m running out of blog ideas, dang, an opportunity blown! Again, a pleasure meeting the real life LPC, you’re just as nice in person as online.

  3. 18 January 2008 @ 8:33 pm Posted by Dave

    Ria, that sounds absolutely incredible! The more I find out about Mediterranean foods, the more I experience of what I can around here, the more I thoroughly enjoy it. Today was obviously a good but minor taste of what I’ve been missing!

    Rebecca … Star struck? No way, really, I’m just me. Besides, you’re the local celeb, not me, sheesh! There were no injuries that I’m aware of … I was actually more afraid of camera three when the servos suddenly spun up when I was next to it! We’ll have to get a pic at some point. Blog ideas? I have plenty! Guess I’ll have to send them your way, eh? Not a problem, will do. Lance was quite the cool young man under all the rapid-fire pressure in that studio. I can’t imagine what his job is like when there are three at the desk, plus Jay, plus sports, plus bluescreen, plus the dotcom center … criminy! ;-)

  4. 18 January 2008 @ 10:18 pm Posted by Robin

    Ding dant y’all! I miss everything! I honestly didn’t know what the heck was happening when my sister said, “I gotta go. I gotta go!”

  5. 18 January 2008 @ 10:18 pm Posted by Robin

    That was supposed to be ding dang. Crap, I can’t even do Britney Spears.

  6. 19 January 2008 @ 5:23 am Posted by Dave

    Robin, wait … you’re not Britney Spears?? Wow, have I ever been misinformed … ;-) You two will have to come out here on … I think it might be June 28th this year. City-wide yard sale in the morning, fireworks of the pier in Lake Erie in the evening … oh yeah, I think you two would enjoy it!

  7. 28 February 2008 @ 11:59 am Posted by The Beirut « Thursday Night in Toledo

    […] Luna Pier Cook […]

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