re: Why does this board refer to any/all Middle Eastern restaurants as Greek/Lebanese?

An article on the Serop's restaurant site says the "Greek and Lebanese" description originated in Baton Rouge and caught on there. It's unique to the area.

quote:

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The local trend (for Lebanese food) dates back to December 1979 when Vasken Kaltakdjian, a Syrian emigre of Lebanese-Armenian descent, opened Serop's, the area's first Lebanese restaurant.

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Things were slow until about '83, then:

quote:

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something else happened to cast the city's future passion for Mediterranean fare. Foreign students Jamal Roman, Naser Abudyak and Nabeel Badawi moved to Baton Rouge to attend LSU's engineering program. They would eventually become restaurateurs.

Roman, founder of Roman's Cafe, emigrated from Syria in 1982 to study mechanical engineering. By 1986, he had opened the first Roman's Cafe on Government Street. He added the super-tender Greek meat sandwich, gyros, to his menu, and pioneered the term Greek-Lebanese restaurant. The name is now ubiquitous in Baton Rouge, but is unusual just about anywhere else, says operating partner Rafat Roman, Jamal's nephew.

"He just came up with it, and before long everybody was serving gyros and calling themselves Greek and Lebanese," he says. Similarly, says Rafat, Jamal Roman pioneered so-called Lebanese tea, the lemonade-spiked iced tea with a splash of rosewater and a sprinkle of pine nuts. "That doesn't exist in Lebanon," Rafat admits. "He made that up. Now everyone in Baton Rouge drinks Lebanese tea."

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LINK

P.S. Jamal M. Roman, the originator, was sentenced in 2011 to more than four years in federal prison for defrauding state and local governments of over $700,000 in sales taxes, much of which he sent to Syria. LINK

I guess in La it's just a blanket term for all Middle Eastern cuisine.

Mouton is a douche

But boudin absolutely has crisp casing when grilled fresh

Unless it is an inside joke I am missing....

Can't speak to the previous thread but steamer and crisp don't really go together

I'm gonna have my office luncheon catered by that Syrian restaurant down the road. Sounds like something any red-blooded American would want to buy