Fresh Taste of
Lebanon: Tabouli’s (Now Paprika) Review
by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
I
grew up eating Greek and Lebanese food as a child in Detroit (Michigan) and
took my daughter Florence out to lunch at what was then Tabouli’s (now Paprika)
in Monterey, California after she finished school for early dinners to continue
the family tradition.
When
I began reviewing restaurants for The
Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000 – California), I queried the
newspaper to review Tabouli, now Paprika, and was given the assignment I think,
because I said I made many Middle Eastern food items at home.
I
have changed Tabouli’s name to its present one of Paprika in the article that
follows:
Fresh Taste of Lebanon
I
can feel the vitamins course through my veins every time I eat vegetable-rich
Lebanese cuisine at Paprika. Chef and
owner Christophe Hamadé offers a tempting array of vegetarian and vegan dishes
alongside his traditional meat dishes.
The
dish I order every time I go to Paprika is baba ghanouge, a roasted eggplant
purée made with sesame seed paste (tahini), crushed garlic, and lemon
juice. Olive oil sprinkled with paprika
and black olives decorate decorates the final product, which you spread on warm
pieces of pita (Lebanese pocket bread).
I like to think of baba ghanouge as hummus without the calories. You can order baba ghanouge as a side dish or
as part of a combination plate.
My
favorite feel-good plate comes with baba-ghanouge, hummus, and tabouli. Hummus, a chickpea purée made with lemon
juice, sesame seed paste, and crushed garlic, has become an onion dip
substitute it seems. At Paprika, hummus
gets spread on pita like baba ghanouge and tastes like an exotic peanut butter.
For
me, tabouli salad is like good-tasting Lebanese penicillin. Finely chopped parsley and mint form the base
of tabouli along with bulghur wheat that has been impregnated with lemon-oil
dressing. Pieces of tomato and spring
onion add their flavor to this mix as well.
These
items that depend on freshness for their taste have always been good in the 20+
years that I have been going to Paprika with my family.
Adventurous
diners might want to try the combination plate that comes with dolmas, tabouli,
hummus, and spinach salad. Dolmas are
stuffed grapevine leaves that get rolled into cylinders and steamed. Paprika’s version comes with tomato, onion,
and rice. Lemon juice and olive oil
season the dolmas. The vine leaves have
a tart taste and are more tender than baked cabbage leaves.
A
fatouche salad might be a new dish for some people. This is an Arab garden specialty that makes
use of the freshest lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onion, parsley, and
mint. The novelty of the dish comes from
the sumac, used to season it, along with toasted pieces of pita bread. The mint and parsley form an especially
refreshing combination.
Refreshing
also describes the tzaziki spread with pita bread. Paper-thin cucumber slices hold this savory
mix of yogurt, mint, crushed garlic, and sour cream together. Tzatziki, a deceptively light spread, is a
famous appetizer all over the Mediterranean.
The
owner’s garlic chicken merits several tries.
This combination plate comes with hummus, tabouli, and rice. You can also find shawerma, a relative of a
Greek gyro, on the menu along with kafta kebab made with group steak.
All
of the meat dishes can be placed inside a pita wrap.
Without
doubt, Paprika’s food is excellent, but half the charm of the place is eating
in the cozy interior decorated with oriental carpets that look like arches with
lanterns in them.
A
large supper tray hangs on the main wall with photographs of temples and
Lebanese cedars under snow. Large jars
of preserved foodstuffs line the tops of the cupboards in the kitchen. Arabic music plays while you eat and many
times, Arabic and French language students from the Defense Language Institute
come with their instructors to converse with the Beirut-born owner as they
order.
Paprika’s
owner worked in Paris nine years before coming to the United States. While working in Paris, he met a couple from
Carmel, who invited him to visit the Monterey Peninsula. He agreed to come and immediately fell in
love with the area, because it was quiet unlike Paris.
(Congratulations to Paprika for being named a Michelin Restaurant in 2019!)
(Congratulations to Paprika for being named a Michelin Restaurant in 2019!)
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
