By Richard Foss
Note: Written in 2008
When I say that Beirut Mix is the best, most wide-ranging Middle Eastern restaurant the South Bay has ever seen, that’s pretty faint praise. We haven’t ever had many Middle Eastern restaurants here, and the ones that were and are here mostly concentrating on doing a few everyday items well. Longtime locals may revere the memory of the old Habash Café in Hermosa, but when you come right down to it the food was only passable – it was the friendliness and funky atmosphere that kept us coming back (and the fact that the falafels were good and insanely cheap). They didn’t ever try to be anything but a good lunch-counter Arabic place.
Beirut Mix is on another planet when it comes to ambition – who else in a wide radius is offering Lebanese-style roasted quail, lamb chops, and homemade sausages? The restaurant is a labor of love from Sam Sabra, who owns the Amigo’s Tacos chain and wanted to present the food of his homeland, and Sam is there almost every evening to greet customers and offer samples of various specials. The restaurant itself is obviously a converted Amigo’s fast food outlet but with some stylish touches – it has been redecorated to look as good as a former taco joint can, and there is table service by knowledgeable and friendly servers. Arabic music videos play on the monitors at moderate volume except when major league football is scheduled, a concession to local obsessions.
The Lebanese have the most interesting cuisine produced by the Arabs – the country has been at the heart of regional trade routes for millennia, so has a wider variety of spices and exotic influences than anywhere else. The traditional way to dine is to start with a mezza, or array of appetizers, and finish with kebabs or a roasted or baked dish. Beirut Mix offers over twenty hot and cold mezza plus a dozen soups and salads, and I’ve been working my way through the list to see which ones I like best. The hummus, by which all Lebanese restaurants may be measured, is very good, creamy and flavorful with just the right amount of oil, and fine as a dip with warm pita bread. When topped with onions, pine nuts, and ground beef it’s even better, and when I’m in need of a quick and reviving lunch or dinner I sometimes order this and a salad. I’m also partial to the fried kibbeh, a meatball coated with bulgur wheat that forms a crisp shell. (This restaurant offers the more exotic raw kibbeh, a spicy beef tartare, which I fully intend to try the next time I’m there with anybody else who will eat raw beef with me.) I have also enjoyed both kinds of the Lebanese sausage, Ma’aneek and sujuk. Ma’aneek is full flavored, moist, and made with beef, pine nuts, wine, and spices, while Sujuk is spicier and has a slightly more dry texture. Neither contains pork, despite the menu’s comparison to chorizo; Muslim dietary law doesn’t allow pork, and those who keep Kosher will find that they can order without concern.
This isn’t to say that the Muslim dietary laws are followed in all things, because wine is available – and not just any wine, but good-quality Lebanese wine. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Chateau Ksara Vlanc de Blanc and Chardonnay – I had tried the reds before and knew they were good, but these were a new experience. Those who don’t drink wine have much to enjoy, including yoghurt sodas, fresh fruit juices, and the powerful espresso-style coffee that can keep you awake and lively for days.
There is much more to describe on the mezze, including the usual tabbouleh and good babaghannouj, vegetarian grape leaves with a nice touch of mint, and the tasty little turnovers called sfiha, but since I don’t have unlimited amounts of space it will have to suffice for me to say that I haven’t hit a dud yet.
Among main courses, I’ve tried the kebabs, which were excellent. With the exception of the kofta kebab, which is made of meat ground with onion and seasonings, they’re not highly spiced because Lebanese prefer to taste the meat rather than the spices. After the wide range of flavors in the mezza, a plate of kebabs with rice, salad, and a dab of hummus on the side is quite a lot of hearty food, and if you’ve been over-ordering on appetizers as I usually do, you might split an order between two people.
The same might be said of the quail, which were delicious. I know people who never order quail because they think it’s too much work for too little meat. When the quail haven’t been deboned, they’re often right, and when the small birds aren’t cooked correctly they can be dry, stringy, and awful. Beirut Mix uses deboned quails, with only the drumsticks and wing bones to deal with, and they cook them just right so the meat is still moist. If you have never tried quail, or have tried it and never liked it, you might come here to see why people eat them.
The only grilled item I’ve tried that wasn’t to my liking was the fish, and this may be a matter of traditional tastes. The mahi mahi kebab I tried one evening was a little overcooked and on the dry side, which may have been a momentary lapse on the part of the kitchen or might be how Arabs like their fish. I have noticed that when I’ve ordered fish at other Arabic restaurants, it has often been overcooked by Californian standards, and it may just be how it is served.
Though grilled items are most popular, they aren’t all that you can get here – daily specials have included a tender lamb shank in wine sauce that seems to owe a bit to Chef Garo’s Armenian heritage. I’ve also had stuffed zucchini that were a showstopper – these really ought to be on the menu on a regular basis.
Beirut Mix presents the cuisine and culture of a widely misunderstood country in a way that few other places in greater Los Angeles can rival. I have been going to Wahib’s in Alhambra or Alcazar in Encino when I wanted exceptional Lebanese food, and I’m delighted that I can now have it close to home.
Beirut Mix is at 2515-F Artresia Boulevard in Redondo Beach. Parking in lotr, wheelchair access good, beer & wine served. Open 10 AM – 10 PM Su-Thu, 10 AM-11 PM Fr-Sa. Phone 310-370-4200.
