The Silver Spring Penguin

Cool blue walls, granite floors and massive windows make the Lebanese Taverna Cafe a cheap stop en route to the movie theater. The Silver Spring outpost of this local chain has decent Middle Eastern food, wine on tap and a menu that goes on forever.

The traditional mezza platter for two ($10) includes smooth hommos, pureed chickpeas accented with lemon; tabouleh, a cold salad of minced fresh parsley; and warm pita bread. The platter also arrives with kibbeh, a meatball of beef, lamb and pine nuts; and falafel, a vegetarian patty. Both are crisp on the outside, moist on the inside and seasoned with cumin.

Among the mezza sold individually, the baba gannouge ($4.50), a puree of roasted eggplant, stands out for its smoky flavor and arrives drizzled with olive oil. However, the cold grape leaves stuffed with rice ($4.75) could benefit from more mint and parsley, and the house salad (small, $3.75) consists of standard-fare iceburg lettuce.

For a heavier meal, the tasty kafta sandwich ($6.50) packs moist, well-seasoned beef and lamb patties into a pita, along with fresh vegetables, parsley and hommos. For an extra $1.45, the sandwich comes with a house salad and either white rice, french fries or house potatoes.

The good food and reasonable prices are enough to make one overlook the usually messy dining room. While diners carry their meals from the counter to the table, there are no trash bins to receive trays when the meal is done. That task is left to the cafe’s staff, who can’t (or don’t) keep up with the mess. Dirty dishes can sit on empty tables for 30 minutes or more, creating a needless seating problem.

Lebanese Taverna Cafe, 933 Ellsworth Dr, Silver Spring, (301) 588-1194

Originally published Dec 13, 2006.