Bring on the meze: The night is young

As a waiter approached our table with four more meze, we eagerly shoved aside glasses, plates -- even the flowers -- to make room for more of the small plates.

We’d already sampled at least a dozen hot and cold appetizers at Mandaloun, an elegant new Lebanese restaurant in Glendale. But who could resist the adorable little Lebanese sausages called soujouk, still sizzling, rich with the scents of cumin and sweet spices? Not me. I groaned, folding one into a piece of lavash bread still warm from the oven. But when I bit into the sausage, I got the delicious shock of lemon in the glaze.

What else did the waiter bring? Slender fingers of filo dough filled with milky Lebanese cheese. A platter of pickles that includes fat strips of turnip tinged pink. Cracked green olives. And one of the world’s best cucumber pickles.

Ever since Al Amir in Los Angeles closed several years ago, I’ve been hoping another upscale Lebanese restaurant would open. I love the minuscule Sunnin Lebanese Cafe in Westwood, which was started by one of Al Amir’s former cooks, but in such a small, casual setting, it’s simply not possible to offer the full experience or the pace of a Lebanese meal.

Mandaloun’s sophisticated decor, subtle cooking and excellent wine list make this newcomer a contender after four months in business. It’s a class act all the way. Owner Ara Kalfayan could give Valentino’s Piero Selvaggio a run for the money as consummate host.

The Beirut native has been in the restaurant business for 19 years. His first Glendale restaurant, Phoenicia, was French-Continental and a magnet for wine buffs who held tastings there and enjoyed talking wine with Kalfayan. His list at Mandaloun is quite terrific, a heady mix of Lebanese wine, Bordeaux, California boutique and all sorts of unexpected bottles. But he also has arrack, the fiery spirit that traditionally accompanies meze.

When I heard Mandaloun had opened, I thought it would be perfect for the group of friends I’d been trying to get together for months. I’d actually sneaked in a previous meal so I knew what to expect. The room looks like something from Las Vegas, but more tasteful, with swooping pearl-encrusted silk curtains and precious vases set into niches in the wall. At one end of the long dining hall is a stage used when the restaurant offers a dinner and entertainment package after 8 p.m. for $36 per person on Friday, $38 per person on Saturday.

The menu lists more than 36 hot and cold appetizers, but most of the classics are offered as part of several set meals. It’s a lot of food. The plate of kibbeh naye happened to land in front of my friend Richard. “My absolute favorite,” he chortled, reaching for some of the famous Lebanese tartare. Usually it’s made from lamb pounded in a mortar and pestle until it becomes almost a paste. Chef Michel Chammaa prefers to use beef rather than lamb, though, saying he can’t find lamb like he had used in Lebanon. Still, it’s terrific: The pounded meat is laced with a little bulgur wheat, onion and ribbons of fresh mint. Once you acquire a taste for kibbeh nayeh, it can be addictive.

Little did I know that Richard absolutely loves Lebanese food. The minute we sat down, he grabbed the menu. “Saj!,” he cried, his eyes shining. For the uninitiated, saj is a paper-thin Lebanese flatbread cooked on a hot metal dome. Covered with tangy Lebanese cream cheese (labneh) or a paste of thickened yogurt and crushed wheat, it becomes something like a pizza. But though it’s on the menu, Mandaloun won’t be making saj until full-on summer, when they set up on the outdoor terrace. The classic meze are a good test of a Lebanese kitchen. Tabbouleh, hummus, baba ghanouj you find everywhere, now that Mediterranean cuisine has taken hold in California. You know you’re in the hands of an expert chef when you taste the hint of smoke and garlic in the baba ghanouj or the perfect balance of lemon to tahini in the hummus. Chammaa, it turns out, was chef at Al Amir at two different periods, and, most recently at a Lebanese restaurant in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The tabbouleh is the real thing: almost all parsley, with a scattering of fluffy bulgur and lots of lemon squeezed over it. Is there a more refreshing salad for this climate? Not to forget the heavenly labneh, garnished with a swirl of golden olive oil.

As the bread cooled, the waiter replenished the basket with fresh lavash, billowy as a foil balloon. We watched the baker slide the dough into the oven on a wooden peel all through the night.

We had come at 8 to find the huge dining hall lined with long tables but hardly anybody here. Just before 9, more guests arrived. Most of the younger crowd headed straight for the brightly lighted outdoor terrace where more large tables had been set up.

At 9, the gold silk curtains at the front of the dining room swept up to reveal the Mandaloun band. The music was nostalgic, sort of Charles Aznavour does Beirut, a mix of synthesizer and live music that’s entertaining without being punishingly loud.

We tasted on while they played. I was fascinated by the warak enab, incredibly thin and tender grape leaves wrapped around a filling of rice and vegetables that’s deliberately minimalist, the better to show off the taste and texture of the grape leaf. We loved the roasted eggplant stuffed with walnuts and lightly pickled so that the eggplant becomes absolutely velvety.

The band took a break, and suddenly belly dancers sprinted for the dance floor and proceeded to do a precision routine with several changes of costume. The style is urban and hip-hop influenced, very entertaining.

By then, we cried uncle and had the meze spread cleared away, to be followed by a long oval platter of tiny red mullet, fried whole and presented with tahini sauce. The little Mediterranean fish were fresh, and delicious squirted with a little lemon. Underneath were pieces of fried lavash that somehow got eaten too. You can never have too much bread.

Main courses are mostly variations on the kebab. You can order chicken or beef separately, or take on a mixed grill, which would include chicken or beef shawarma, and kafta made with ground beef and spices. Our chicken was a little dry, but by the time more lavash was folded around the meats with some raw onion, sharp with lemon and soujouk, it was very satisfying.

Once the band came back, people pushed back their chairs to dance. In the semi-dark, young girls and silver-haired couples lifted their arms overhead, swaying to the music.

We lingered, drinking small cups of coffee scented with cardamom and nibbling on an array of Lebanese desserts flavored with pistachios, honey and rosewater. For an evening, we’d been taken away from the news of war and conflict, something I suspect the Lebanese know very well how to do.

*

Mandaloun

Rating: ** 1/2

Location: 141 S. Maryland St., Glendale; www.mandalounusa.com; (818) 507-1900

Ambience: Elegant Lebanese restaurant with grand dining hall and large outdoor patio with heat lamps.

Service: Very professional and attentive.

Price: Appetizers, $3.95 to $11.95; main courses, $9.95 to $22; desserts, $3 to $7.95; set menus, $19.95 to $29.95.

Best dishes: Everything in the traditional Lebanese meze or sampling of appetizers, especially homos, baba ghanouj, tabbouleh, labneh, stuffed grape leaves, kibbeh makli, kibbeh nayeh sausages with lemon juice glaze, freshly baked lavash bread, red mullet, beef kafta, mhalabieh (rose water-scented milk pudding).

Wine list: A terrific list featuring not only wines from Lebanon, but from around the world. Corkage, $15

Best table: One tucked at the sides of the room.

Special features: Entertainment after 8 p.m. on Friday ($36) and Saturday ($38) per person includes lavish prix fixe dinner. Traditional nargileh (water pipe filled with aromatic tobacco) is offered on the outdoor terrace.

Details: Open daily from 11:30 a.m. for lunch until 11 p.m.; until 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Full bar. Parking in public lot across the street at reduced price, with validation from the restaurant.

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.