date: 4/21/10
location: minneapolis
grade: b+

emily's has been open for longer than some of us have been alive- 35 years, all in the same location. they offer lebanese food, which intersects somewhat with other mediterranean cuisines. quite often they're packed, so they indeed have been doing something right all these years. when we went it wasn't so crowded, perhaps due to the lack of patio on a killer spring day. (that may be changing, rumor has it.) who knows. or maybe the nearby twins game.

anyway, the place feels like it has been here a long time, and they plan to expand soon. it's very neighborhood here, even if many people come all over for at least the deli (the tabouli seems to be the favorite item there, though many people also go for the bread).

i had gotten a few things from the deli before (the bread), but never ate here. since i always wanted to try their hummus, i went with the appetizer plate that had hummus, baba ghannuj (it's how it's spelled on their menu), feta cheese, olives and i think they were pickled banana peppers (it was $12, though is listed as $13 on the online menu... a change from the usual price switch).

everything was really good, especially the cheese and olives. and the baba ghannuj was nearly the best i've had. the hummus was good, but i'm more of a holy land devotee with that. i would've liked to see tabouli instead of the peppers, they seemed a bit of a cop out on the plate, unless they did the pickling (which they very well may have).

it was a large pile of food, so much so that you could get away for $20 for dinner for two if you get this and say a kibbi plate and be very well fed. i brought some home, too, and it was just for dinner. this would've have been a complete winner except the pita- it was theirs (when they run out they serve holy land) but it was not very fresh. that was a tad disappointing.

also disappointing- one of the servers... of course the one we had was the not so good one (bad restaurant karma, go!). i had ordered tabouli as a side ($3) but it didn't get to the table. when they served the tabouli that came with the dinners, the server was... oh, yeah, didn't you get one? since they also decided to bring the appetizer plate then (and i saw how huge it was) i skipped it. but of course it was on the bill. the bad one also brought out the appetizer plate, meant as dinner, with the rest of the tabouli (salad course)... i said i would start with my tabouli then have the appetizer plate.

meanwhile, the good one fixed the check in seconds... and earlier brought us a pitcher of water without asking (no one else had one) when she saw how quickly we drained our glasses. has that ever happened without our asking? i think not. she also asked if we needed more water when we had drained the last pitcher (she kept them going) and were sitting around taking a bit after dinner.... so when you go, i hope you get the good server. it helps immensely.

everyone else ordered some sort of kibbi... there was the so-called 'daily special' (which happens every day) where you can get baked or raw kibbi (most of the kibbi eaters liked the baked a lot better) with cabbage rolls and grape leaves ($8.50), the 'combination dinner... baked or raw kibbi, meat pie, cabbage rolls, grape leaves, an stuffed zucchini' ($15.00) and the 'kibbi combination... a large portion of raw kibbi accompanied by two squares of baked kibbi and raw onion' ($9.00)- the last person also got a side of hummus ($3.75) that was forgotten along with my tabouli- they asked for it to be brought though. someone ordered the lemonade- it was supposed to be mint, ut that was hard to spot in it ($2.75 i think?). good without it thought, but on the sweet side (rather than tart).

but... they were out of pine nuts, and used almonds. most of the people didn't think that quite acceptable as a replacement in some of the dishes they serve... if they can use pita from holy land when they run out, what's stopping them from running someplace nearby to pick some up?

other than that, it was quite a good outing... now and then restaurant club likes to visit the 'classics' we may have missed or had not gotten to in ages... and this was one that turned out well.