L'emir Is Not Another Fast-Food Pretender

XX L'Emir, 1400 N. 80th St., Lebanese-Mediterranean. Lunch and dinner ($3 to $9) 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; until 10 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday. Liquor license pending. Nonsmoking area provided. Reservations: 523-4196.

Support your local Emir.

The past few weeks of oily turbulence in the Mideast have focused attention on the area where Western civilization began - and threatens to malinger, starve or expire by either poison gas or terminal sunburn. In any case, now that my patriotism and tax dollars have been enlisted in the causes of assorted kingdoms and emirates (if royalty is such a defensible, hot idea, how come we kicked ours out in 1776?), I thought the least I could do was jog on over to our local Emir.

L'Emir is a family-owned restaurant on the north shore of Green Lake, a half-block away from Green Lake Jake's and the latest checkered blue-and-white expansion by Duke Moscrip - the former Green Lake Grill.

The restaurant owned and run by Ghassan Abo-Zaki, is small (49 seats), bright, clean and cheerful. Unlike Duke's and Jake's, L'Emir does not serve custom burgers.

``We took the L'Emir Burger and the French fries off the menu,'' Kamal Abo-Zaki, Ghassan's brother, said. ``At first we figured it's Green Lake, anything goes.''

But burgers didn't. And they went. It was appropriate.

L'Emir is not a fast-food pretender. Its menu is authentic Lebanese, with orange blossom water more at home than Orange Julius.

I first discovered L'Emir several months ago when Saleh Joudeh, the Syrian-born owner chef of Saleh al Lago across the lake, mentioned that he had had lunch there, and said of the Abo-Zaki brothers' kitchen skills, ``They know what they are doing over there.''

Three of us dropped in for lunch a few days ago and content-ed ourselves with ordering the entire appetizer menu, along with hot Arabian bread, fresh lemonade and mint tea.

The appetizers are priced from $2.85 to $4.50. And while all are appealing (I don't recall that we left any of it untouched), the Baba Kanouj ($3.75) and the Zahrah ($3.50) are especially noteworthy.

The Baba - mashed, roasted eggplant, with spices, garlic and tahini sauce - has the lingering, smokey quality from the discarded, charred skins. It's served with a pool of light green virgin olive oil scooped into the middle.

Zahrah sounds deceptively simple. It is deep-fried cauliflower. But it is attractively browned, dusted over with reddish-purple ground sumac and coated with a drizzling of tahini sauce.

A plate of cool, refreshing Lebanese Labnie ($3.25) goes well with the Zahrah. The drained yogurt is slightly thickened by hanging; served with mideastern olives, tomato wedges, olive oil and bread.

All of L'Emir's dinners ($6 to $9) are served with rice, soup or salad. The rice is uncommonly good. I asked Kamal how he and his brother, Ghassan, the owner-chef, managed to prepare and hold the dish so well.

``Secret seasoning,'' he began with a conspiratorial smile.

Then he explained that they add the long grain rice to premeasured boiling water, simmer covered for 20 minute and let stand in a large pot. Whatever the method (I suspect an infusion of chicken stock), the result is wonderful; firm, distinct grains, yet without the gritty core of undercooked rice.

Rice cookery in most of Seattle's non-Asian restaurants is usually either mediocre or appalling. Some of the so-called rice pilafs deserve to go back into boxes. (An exception, Canlis' fine rice pilaf with pine nuts.)

I think that for an introductory meal, I would order the L'Emir Combination ($8.50). It features three of the restaurant's best entrees:

Kafta Kabab ($7.25 as a separate dinner), Tawook ($7.95) and L'Emir Kabab (marinated lamb or beef cubes grilled). The Kafta is a mixture of highly seasoned ground lamb and beef, blended with chopped onions and parsley. It is shaped on skewers and grilled.

Tawook is another charbroiled specialty; cubes of boneless chicken, marinated and - again - generously seasoned. Perhaps too much so. Although the poultry cubes are held in nothing more than lemon juice, salt, pepper and allspice, the result can be pretty lively and threatens to overwhelm the chicken.

Vegetarian Grape Leaves ($6.99) arrive almost cigar-shaped, unlike the Greek-style dolmadeswhich are more egg-shaped. They are filled with rice, onions, tomato and lemon juice. I managed to finish four out of six.

Baklava, a dessert that is frequently so sweet you make a mental note to call your dental hygienist in the morning, is not like that at L'Emir. The sweetening is subtle, elusive flavors of pistachio, rose water and orange blossom water permeate. The final effect is not so much filling as both pleasurable and exotic.

I have been told that L'Emir's Friday night special - deep-fried rainbow trout ($11.95) - beats anything hauled out of Green Lake. Next time.