The Restaurants We Can't Live Without By Tom Fitzmorris. . . Revised May 2009 Byblos Lebanese. Old Metairie: 1501 Metairie Rd. 504-834-9773. Map. Uptown: 3218 Magazine. 504-894-1233. Map. Lunch and dinner seven days. Casual. AE DC DS MC V www.byblosrestaurants.com   WHY IT'S ESSENTIAL   Byblos raised the standards for Lebanese restaurant cooking and ingredients when it opened its first restaurant fifteen years ago. It encouraged the opening of many more of its kind, most of them far better than the few we had before. The Byblos delis--more spartan than their two main restaurants--are also excellent.   WHY IT'S GOOD   The restaurants have wide-ranging menus with first-class cookery and unusually fine raw materials. The beef, lamb, and chicken are all tender and well-trimmed. Even the rice in the free side pilaf is basmati. The desserts are made in house and hard to resist, even after a very large meal.   BACKSTORY   Gabriel Saliba, Tarek Tay, and Hicham Khodr--all natived of Beirut--opened Byblos on Metairie Road in 1994. It did so well there that the restaurant was renovated twice, and a second location opened in 2000. Byblos is the name of an ancient city in Lebanon. It was so famous for its library that its name gave the Greeks their word for "book" and, in turn, to the Bible.   DINING ROOM   The original Metairie restaurant took over a former fast-food place, although you'd never know that now. Tall ceilings and large windows make it a very pleasant place to dine. The newer Magazine Street location is inside an 1800s Greek revival structure, but with a cool, modern interior. The Uptown Byblos has belly dancing one or two nights a week.   ESSENTIAL DISHES   Hummus. Baba ghanooj. Stuffed kibbeh. Falafel. Stuffed cabbage rolls. Cheese pie. Tabbouleh salad. Beef or chicken shawarma. Beef kabob. Chicken kabob. Kafta kabob. Lamb taratour (with tahini). Rack of lamb. Grilled wild-caught salmon. Ashta (flaky dessert pastry).   FOR BEST RESULTS   Assemble a party of six to eight, and order all twenty or so appetizers, plus a few entrees.   OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT   I wish they'd return kibbe nayyih (raw kibbe) to the menu.   FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD   Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter. Dining Environment +1 Consistency +1 Service +1 Value Attitude +1 Wine and Bar Hipness +1 Local Color +1   SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES    Good for business meetings Open Sunday Open Monday Open most holidays Open all afternoon Vegetarian dishes Quick, good meal Unusually large servings Good for children Easy, nearby parking Click here for an index to all 200 Essential Restaurant reviews. © 2009 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com