Lebanese New Spice

BUD KENNEDY Eatsbeat

Paper: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Title: Lebanese land a new spice on north side

Date: July 31, 1992

From the Mediterranean to the Stockyards: The tale of Hedary's Lebanese is one of Fort Worth's great restaurant success stories. In only a few years, it grew from a tiny White Settlement Road cafe to two locations consistently ranked among Dallas' and Fort Worth's best.

   Now two Hedary sons have opened a spinoff: Byblos, a new Lebanese restaurant at North Main Street and Central Avenue - in the midst of the North Side/Stockyards enchilada land."I bought this building years ago, and I finally decided it needed to be a restaurant," partner Joseph Hedary said.

   The Main landmark was built as a hotel in 1904, he said. It's in the onetime town of Marine, where tough beer bars held forth recently until Byblos' owners and neighbors drove them out of the block.

   Byblos offers a variety of Lebanese dishes at bargain prices such as $5 for lunch, $5 to $7 for dinner, Hedary said. He and brother Marios added dishes such as cabbage rolls, stuffed squash and stuffed lamb with rice. . . .

   Beef from the bird: By now, Camp Bowie Boulevard drivers are used to the unusual menus on Bella Italia West's advertising signs. Chef Carlo Croci's Bella West and an earlier Bella Italia gained fame for serving fresh game dishes such as quail, pheasant and venison.

   Bella West's new meat, though, draws a double take. We're not used to seeing signs for "fresh ostrich."

   A clue: Ostrich meat is not the same old bird. It's beefy, but low in fat and cholesterol.

   Bella serves an ostrich steak with peppercorn sauce (a match for any beefsteak), ostrich cooked like Croci's signature "Veal 3-G" or ostrich strips as an appetizer (they taste like fajita beef). . . .

   Fettuccine find: New entry in south Arlington's Italian-food battle is Amalafi, in the Southwest Green Oaks Boulevard shopping center where Mariner's Cove fought the good fight for years.

   Amalafi is a spinoff from north Arlington's Fontana Italian Restaurant, which has thrived on Texas 360 despite nearby competition from the more expensive Marsala. The new Amalafi gives south Arlington another choice besides those dreaded cookie-cutter chain restaurants. . . .

   A new spin: And it's old news in south Arlington by now, but a simple new Italian cafe is open at 4300 Matlock Road, Joe's Pizza Pasta & Subs.

   "Joe" is Tony Leland, formerly a worker at Fort Worth's heralded Black Sea Pizza restaurant. He's proud of his old-style pizzas and strombolis. . . .

"Bud Kennedy's City Beat" appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. "Eats Beat" appears Fridays in Star Time. To offer restaurant news or views, call Bud Kennedy at 390-7538 (fax 390-7789).