Open Sesame for Ali Baba in Lakewood!

Ali Baba opens in the Lakewood Shopping Center and the neighbors are saying "Open Sesame!" The venerable East Dallas favorite Mediterranean (Lebanese) Restaurant is finally open in the old Carrabas location after spending years on Greenville Avenue. All the favorites are there: hummus, dolmas, succulent roasted chicken, gyros, falafel, and more. The menu is friendly and so is the staff. Lebanese house wines and some interesting choices from South America, plus a few selections of beer are available. They assure us they will be improving the wine list (they will even be printing one--none available on our first visit). Service is overrun right now, because the Lakewood denizens have sniffed a new restaurant in the shopping center and are converging in droves. The staff is meeting the demand with a big smile and an apology if the wait is a tad long. We didn't experience any particular problem, but we only had apps-- meat pie and spinach pie are great! Dolmas are an all time favorite of mine. Interestingly, if you just want rice and seasoning they are labeled with the traditional name on the menu, but if you want meat added they are listed as "grape leaves". It must be the essence of meat, because these are the skinniest dolmas I have ever seen. Maybe they've been on a diet. Ali Bab still serves the best hummus around. This is a big improvement over the great old "dive" surroundings on Greenville. The new digs are comfortable and the air conditioning works really well (unlike the past location). A WELCOME addition to the neighborhood. What do you think? Read the legend of Ali Baba on the back of the menu and see if you don't think CSI: Persia should look into it. I didn't remember such a grisly story when I read this fable in grade school.