From The New Orleans Menu Daily By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published March 21, 2007 Albasha 1$ Covington: 1958 N. US 190 985-867-8292 Lunch and dinner seven days. All-day service Fri.-Sun. AE, DC, DS, MC, V. Albasha is a five-restaurant chain based in Baton Rouge, where Lebanese food was popular long before it caught on in New Orleans. (I have no idea why that was; we have always had a substantial Lebanese population here. Maybe they always cooked their own at home.) Those of us who live on the North Shore were pleased to see the opening of Albasha in Covington. Popular as it is, Middle Eastern food has never been widely available across the lake. Only one other restaurant serving the stuff exists (Mona's, in Mandeville). The new Albasha in Covington is part of a commercial development on land reclaimed a few years ago from the banks of the Abita River, across the parking lot from Boule Prime House. It's a handsome, airy restaurant, with exposed brick walls and big windows. That, plus the bright attitudes of the service staff, shows close study of modern restaurant management techniques of the kind that have proven so successful for chains across America. That's the first thing that disappointed me about this restaurant. I don't want a restaurant serving an exotic cuisine to be antiseptic. I want it to be full of the culture and color of the land whose food it serves. This place could as easily serve steaks or pizza or hamburgers. And as Middle Eastern menus go, this may be the most humdrum I've ever run across. Most Lebanese restaurants serve more or less the same dishes, of course, but the variety here seems to me to be more limited than usual. If it were great, that wouldn't be a problem. But the three meals I've had here were marked by enormous portions, low prices, and ordinary food. All the usual appetizers: hummus (too thick for me), baba ghanoosh (the usual smoky flavor was too subtle), fried kibbe (over-fried), and lentil soup (good, but almost a puree, which struck me as unusual). The taboule was ice-cold (it should be cool, of course, but not this chilly). The entrees come out on loaded plated from which at least two items (I'd suggest the salad and the rice) should either be moved to other dishes or left out entirely. For example, when the combination gyros and chicken shawarma appeared, the first four attempts to spear something on a fork resulted in food falling off the plate onto the table. Again, this wouldn't be a problem if the food were delicious. But the gyros was the least interesting I've had in a long time. And the kafta kebab on another plate came out tremendously overcooked, dry, and tepid. The best dish I've had here was the moussaka. They make two kinds: one with squash (that's a new one on me, but I liked it) and the other, more traditional kind with eggplant. Both these can be had either as an appetizer or an entree. However, unless you have a gargantuan appetite, it will be hard to finish two courses if this is one of them. I had high hopes for this place, because of its reputation in Baton Rouge and my desire for good Middle Eastern cooking in my neighborhood. But they need to polish up the cooking and do more cooking to order. Maybe it's because their prices are too low. Click here to return to today's edition. Click here for an index of all restaurant reviews. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com.