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Type: Middle Eastern
Hours: Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-9:30
p.m.
Good Choices: Hoummos; lamb shish kebab; kaftal lubia.
Credit Cards: Major cards accepted.
Access: All facilities on one floor; bathrooms are wheelchair accessible.
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CAFE BARADA
201 Mass. Ave., Arlington
(781) 646-9650
Restaurant reviewed 12/04/97 by Linda Matchan
It used to be located a few doors down Mass. Ave., all 19 seats of it. It was a cozy little restaurant -- unsung, unheralded -- known to people in the neighborhood for serving fine Lebanese food.
But then owner Youssef Salameh scored big. Two years ago, he took over a spacious corner location directly across the street from the popular Capitol Theatre in Arlington, and expanded the restaurant to 70 seats. Now, Caf� Barada is packed on weekend nights with theatergoers looking for something to eat other than popcorn, and with patrons in search of Middle Eastern food that has a slightly different flavor -- and flare -- than the usual.
It's a family-operated enterprise. "It's my brother, and his wife, and me, and my cousin and his wife," said Salameh, who moved to the United States from Lebanon about 30 years ago. The menu items are inspired by family recipes, although Salameh is hard-pressed to classify them in any culinary way.
"We have Lebanese and Israeli and Syrian and Palestinian food," he says.
"Each country has its own distinctive flavor, and it varies even from town to town. Everyone makes hoummos, for example, but how do you distinguish one region's from another? Ours is different," he says. "My mother showed me how to do it."
He says he got into the restaurant business accidentally. He was educated as an engineer, and worked in that field for "six or seven years" until one day he got laid off. Desperation bred innovation. In 1985, he saw a small restaurant for sale and bought it on a whim. "I thought I'd run it a little bit, then move to other things."
But his customers didn't let him go: His hoummos and falafil and shish kebab and kibby were too good to relinquish, and he found his restaurant swarming with clients. Now his engineering days are long gone, and Salameh is thriving as a restaurateur.
Certainly the food has a great deal to do with it. Servings are abundant and very reasonably priced, and there wasn't an entree or appetizer we tried that didn't delight us. Every day, two or three different specials are offered, priced between $6.95 and $8.95. Relying on such flavorings as cumin, coriander, and cardamom, entrees range from the $7.95 potato kibby (a hearty mashed potato dish layered around ground beef and onions) and $7.95 lubia (tangy string beans cooked with lamb and onions in a spicy tomato sauce) to ardishokee ($7.95, a delicious dish of lamb and artichoke hearts in tomato sauce) and msa'ah, a satisfying vegetarian eggplant casserole ($6.95) with chickpeas, onions, and tomatoes.
The lamb kebab ($8.95) - standard Lebanese fare -- was uncommonly flavorful and tender; and we loved the kibby ($7.95), a meatloaf-like loaf with onions and nuts, which tasted like a nutty bread. There is a $4.75 kids' meal, a sampling of the dinners, in small portions.
You could make a meal of appetizers alone. We loved the hoummos ($3.75), creamy and rich without the homogenized texture that you often see in Middle Eastern restaurants. Also worth checking out is the labany, $3.95, a creamy yogurt cheese.
But there is much to be said, too, for the ambience at Cafe Barada. It is tasteful without being ornate: The restaurant is decorated with wood paneling, a high tin roof, a lovely, soothing green rug, and attractive Lebanese wall ornaments -- not your standard cheap eats restaurant issue.
Best of all, the atmosphere is friendly and warm. Salameh is a generous soul, bringing dessert (baclava) to the table if he sees you are a newcomer, and encouraging strangers to Lebanese cuisine to try unexpected dishes.
"Americans, to be honest, like to go for safe things," he says. "I tell people, try something new. If you don't like it, you'll get something else. You won't be forced to eat it. I know how it feels. When I came to this country, I didn't know how to eat, I was afraid, so for a long time, I just ate food I knew. So now I say, be brave. And I offer them something new."
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