Keoni and Bonnie » Mediterranean

Update on Melody Lane

bonnie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:43:09 +0000

This restaurant on Canton Rd. in Marietta is the first one that I blogged about and it’s still one of my favorites! I said I would try everything on the menu and I just about have. The food is Meditarranean and it tastes like your Mom’s cooking if she’s a wonderful Lebanese woman! The grape leaves are the best I’ve ever had. They are hand rolled so if you’ve only had the ones out of a can, you haven’t had a good one. Her lentil soup is so lemony and scrumptious. The falafels are another favorite of mine. Fadia is the owner and she does all the cooking and also does catering. This is not a trendy place and they don’t have an alcohol liscence, this is just delciously prepared food and healthy, too.

Social Resto Cafe Bar

bonnie — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:47:12 +0000

We went to this place right after Top Flr to have another glass of wine. It’s located in downtown Atlanta on West Peachtree Place. It was a quiet Monday night so we had a chance to talk with the bartender/manager and server, Douglas and Joelle. They were so nice! They opened a couple of different wines for us to try. I was interested in the menu, French and North African cuisine. They have small plates, salads and entrees. I noticed on their website that they have specials on Mondays and Tuesdays. Monday is a choice of 3 different pastas and a glass of wine for $15.00 and Tuesday is steak and frites and a glass of wine for $15.00. Looks like we have another place to go!

Tarator Sauce

bonnie — Sat, 02 May 2009 21:44:25 +0000

My friend, Kristi from Forktime.com and I were talking about how we love pine nuts and will try any recipe that calls for them. This is most commonly a sesame-based sauce found throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. I actually found this recipe in a Cottage Living magazine. It’s great served as a sauce for grilled shrimp but could be also be used as a dip.

              – 2 cups pine nuts
              - 3 slices firm-textured white bread, crusts removed and bread torn
                    into 1-inch pieces
              – 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
               -2 garlic cloves
              - 3/4 tsp. salt
               -1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Place all ingredients in a food processor with 1/3 cup water, and process 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl, and process 30 seconds more or until smooth. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Makes about 2 cups.

Zaya..A Mediterranean Restaurant

bonnie — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 08:49:58 +0000

I’m so excited that Keoni and I finally tried this place. It’s located on Highland Ave. in Inman Park and has been open for about 8 months. We went on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and sat outside. The GM sat us and before we ordered brought us a complimentary appetizer (it was made by mistake). This scored big for me because I was starving! It was chorizo sausage with tomatoes and onions with pita bread. Delicious!

I really like that they have a wine list that has glasses of wine for $3 to $5 and bottles from $10 to $18. This is a deal and the wine I got from Argentena was wonderful.

I decided to get the Vegetarian Plate so I could get a variety and the price was reasonable. You choose 4 dishes from a list. I chose grape leaves, mjaradara, baba ghanoush, and spanokopita. Everything was good but the grape leaves were my least favorite of these dishes and ya’ll know I love grape leaves. Their pita bread is also very good and I heard it’s baked on the premises. Keoni got the sharwama chicken wrap and it was huge! It was like two sandwiches for him and we both brought food home.

Overall, I liked the atmosphere and food. The GM, Richard, was so welcoming and we really appreciated that appetizer! I hope to go back soon.

Layover in Springfield, Mass.

bonnie — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:47:12 +0000

For some reason, I have all of these layovers in BDL (Springfield, Mass.) this month. There’s not a lot to do there but our hotel is nice. There is actually a real health club located on the 4th floor and it is complimentary.

Another flight attendant friend told me about a restaurant called Big Mamou’s (Cajun cuisine) that is supposed to be excellent and cater to flight crews and the prices are reasonable. It’s also BYOB, which can make your cost less. I didn’t go there this time but I’ll be back next week and hope to try it.

Since I was going alone, I didn’t want to walk too far so I tried Cafe Lebanon right araound the corner on Main Street. I really liked it and it seems healtier than some options. I had a chicken kabob with a veggie kabob and it came with a fattoush salad and rice pilaf. Fattoush salad is just romaine lettuce, parsley, cucumbers, radishes lemon juice and olive oil with some toasted pita bread in it. I upgraded my regular rice pilaf for one called mdaradara. This is lentils and rice with fried onions on top. It is awesome! I make this fairly often but didn’t know the name of it. The server, Erin G. was really helpful and told me although it sounds cliche, there are actually little Lebanese ladies that make most of the food like the hummus, baba ghanoush and grape leaves. She actually recommended the lamb kebab but I’m not a fan of lamb. I would like to go back and try other dishes on the menu but there are a lot of restaurants to try! I’ll keep ya’ll posted!

Greek Pesto

bonnie — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:56:28 +0000

I’m not a big fan of summertime. One thing I do like is the availability of fresh herbs right on my deck! I decided to make Greek Pesto (from Better Homes and Gardens). Keoni is going to grill some shrimp ,zucchini and cherry tomatoes. I will toss the pesto with hot pasta and add the grilled ingredients. You could also spread the pesto on pizza dough and add any veggies you want. Here’s the recipe:

* 1/2 to 2/3 cup olive oil
* 4 cups fresh basil leaves
* 2 – 2.25-oz. cans sliced, pitted ripe olives, drained
* 1 cup crumbled feta cheese (I added about 1-1/2 cups)
* 8 cloves garlic
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* Ground black pepper to taste

Process all ingredients in a food processor until desired consistency.
Refrigerate 1 to 2 days or freeze in small portions up to 3months

Melody Lane

bonnie — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 06:06:54 +0000

As all my friends know, I love all kinds of ethnic foods. My friend, Samer, told me about a Mediterranean Restaurant on Canton Road in Marietta. He told me they have the really “good” grape leaves as opposed to the “ok” ones that come out of a can. I went by there to get some grape leaves to take on my trip. They were so good! Perfectly seasoned! I went back for lunch today and was just as pleased, I had the vegetarian platter with falafel, baba ghanoush, hummus, grape leaves and tabouli. I want to try everything on the menu. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’ll be back often.

RATE: $

AMBIENCE: