Salim Hanna has been satisfying St. Louisans with Lebanese cuisine for 35 years, beginning on South Grand boulevard and leading the neighborhood into its position as the core of St. Louis’ ethnic diversity in terms of dining. He changed the name of his eponymous restaurant from Salim’s to Saleem’s to make it easier for St. Louisans to pronounce. Today, after stops in University City and Creve Coeur, he’s tucked into a corner of a string of businesses in the West County municipality of Winchester, quietly turning out some extremely tasty meals. The establishment, bigger than it appears from the street, includes a double dining room and a bar, all painted in a warm red. There’s smoking in the bar, but we didn’t get even a whiff in the dining room. Yes, there’s beef and fish on the menu, as well as sandwiches. But we turn immediately to lamb and chicken, the tastiest specialties of Lebanese cuisine. When it comes to lamb, there are three possibilities: kabobs, rack of lamb, and lamb shank. It’s hard for Ann to pass up lamb shank, but in order to keep from turning this into a festival of lamb (lamboree?), she went in another direction, leaving the kabobs and rack of lamb on the table. Kabobs arrived on the house’s tender-but-not-overcooked rice, a delicious accompaniment to every entree. Each piece was nicely trimmed and
One of the basic dishes of a restaurant with this heritage is hummus. Whether the dish turns out to be beige goo or something more exciting has more to do with the chef’s personal taste and cooking skill than any particular ethnicity. Here, hummus doesn’t hum, it sings, with bouncy notes of lemon and the background of some tahini adding a little nuttiness to its rich warm flavor and a texture that makes it easy to spread on a triangular chunk of pita that comes alongside. More unusual is the sauteed onions. Slices are gently cooked and seasoned with sumac, made of ground sumac berries which yield a tart, red powder. It’s often found in this cuisine, and if you like what lemon adds to a dish, you’ll be happy with sumac. We piled the onion strips on triangles of pita, and used the last of the bread to wipe up the cooking juices in the bottom of the bowl, down to the last delicious drop. And then there was the garlic. Saleem’s has, over the years, described itself as the “king of garlic,” and here, golden brown, was an entire head of roasted garlic, the individual cloves to be winkled out and eaten straight or squashed onto what pita hadn’t been consumed with the hummus or the onion. Perfect for garlic lovers, and unusually handsome of its kind, too.
cooked rare, hard to do with kabobs. Very good, but not as thrilling as the rack of lamb, which came as five small chops, larger than the “lamb lollipops” of very high-end restaurants but smaller than the usual rib chops. The meat had been beautifully seasoned, and was dazzlingly flavorful. In terms of bang-for-the-buck, to use the Zagat phrase, this may well be the best lamb dish in town. The chicken was riz-taouk, shown at right, seasoned and grilled strips of breast, mixed with romaine lettuce, tomato and cucumber, tossed with a tahini-lemon sauce and served over the rice. The chicken is extremely flavorful and moist, an antidote to the million exhausted boneless skinless chicken breasts out there, and the combination of warm and cold, crunchy and soft, tart and savory, is first-rate. A Lebanese combo platter of kibbe and tabouli. Kibbe, ground beef mixed with cracked wheat and seasonings, is shaped and baked into a fat patty, dense and satisfying, alongside the light and virtuous-feeling tabouli, the parsley salad flecked with tomato and more ground wheat, dressed with lemon and olive oil.
Hanna’s son, Simon, is the pastry chef, often seen in the dining room in a handsome red tunic. His frequent pastime is flaming one of the signature desserts, strawberries flambe. Fresh strawberries are fired up with some triple sec and served over vanilla ice cream, good fun and a nice touch. But what we found particularly remarkable was the baklava, house-made and the polar opposite of the dense diamonds the dish usually involves. Simon layers and angles the pastry, with curls that come to a point, and instead of honey, uses lemon juice sweetened and seasoned with rose water and orange flower water. A lovely change, making the pastry light and not overly sweet. The Lebanese have thousands of years of history as winemakers, but the industry took hold as a commercial entity in 1930, just about the time the California industry was returning to life after a decade of Prohibition. With grapes like Carignane, Syrah and Cinsault, Rhone Valley varietals to accompany the French classics like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Chateau Musar, dating to 1930, does a number of reds and whites, though the nation’s wine industry is primarily of reds. A 2002 Hochar was delightful, though there was a hint of barnyard aroma made us think the bottle might be corked. However, the flavor, slightly tannin despite its age and with a predominant flavor of dark fruit, suggested that it was still worth drinking – and it was, with the aroma smoothing out after the bottles were open a while. The wine had good structure, rich flavor and a pleasing finish. It would be a good idea to decant this wine. Some research a day or two later explained it. The winery uses a Brettanomyces yeast, which can produce the off-putting aroma, and decanting the wine, or pouring it into glasses about 30 minutes before drinking, will definitely help.
Saleem’s
14560 Manchester Rd., Winchester
Credit cards: Yes
Dinner Mon.-Sat.
Smoking: Yes
Entrees: $10-$19
Wheelchair access: Good
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Based on this review we tried out Saleem’s tonight. I agree the rack of lamb is the best lamb for the price in St. Louis. Close your eyes and you could believe you are at Paul Manno’s in the flavor. Chicken kabob was excellent also.