Make yourself at home at Celaborelle
(picture) NEIGHBORHOOD SPOT: Celaborelle, a Middle Eastern restaurant south of downtown Fort Worth, is a favorite with nearby residents. by Russell Bronson.
Article By Kathryn Jones Special Contributor to the Dallas Morning News
Paper: The Dallas Morning News
Title: Make yourself at home at Celaborelle
Date: July 16, 1999
It’s fitting that the Middle Eastern eatery Celaborelle operates out of an old house. That adds to the feeling you’ve been invited to dinner at the home of a Middle Eastern friend who’s prepared an elaborate feast.
And in a way, you have, considering that Celaborelle is managed by a member of the well-known Hedary family of restaurateurs. However, this restaurant is a separate entity from the flagship Hedary’s on Fort Worth’s west side.
It stands apart in other ways, too. The setting is eclectic, in a two-story turn-of-the-century house in an inner-city neighborhood south of downtown. (There’s minimal parking out front; try side streets or park in back.)
The food also tastes more like Middle Eastern home cooking than what we’ve found at other Hedary-run restaurants. Portions are so generous that we’ve never departed without a box of food we couldn’t finish yet couldn’t bear to leave behind.
A good starter is a thick dip of pureed eggplant ($2 small, $4 large). It was served with excellent pita bread that arrived hot and puffed with steam. The dip was silky and garlicky.
We also ordered a bowl of feta cheese and kalamata olives ($2.95 small, $4.75 large). Chunks of feta were large and tangy; one was laced with herbs.
One evening, the two specials were samplers that allowed us to try several items offered as entrees on the expansive menu.
A parade of dishes began. First our server brought out a large serving of tabbouleh, the salad of chopped parsley, bulgur wheat and diced tomatoes and onions. It was cool and fresh-tasting.
The vegetarian special ($6.95) was a heaping platter of Middle Eastern staples – vegetable falafel (patties of ground garbanzo beans, fava beans, cilantro and spices fried in olive oil); potato kibbi (chunks of potatoes baked with herbs); vegetarian cabbage rolls and grape leaves stuffed with rice, nuts and spices; and fava beans (a large bean similar to a lima) cooked with their own greens.
The meat special ($6.95) was huge, too. A platter arrived with one of our favorite items on the menu, tender baby yellow squash stuffed with lean ground sirloin, onions and pine nuts baked with tomatoes. The platter also bore cabbage rolls stuffed with a mixture of rice, ground sirloin and spices, as well as stuffed eggplant.
Traditional Middle Eastern lamb, beef and chicken dishes are offered, as is pizza made with a thin, puffy crust and a wide choice of toppings.
Service is gracious but slow, because many dishes are prepared as they’re ordered. Bring patience and a bottle of wine (the restaurant is BYOB).
The renovated house – with high ceilings and stucco walls – gleams with polished dark woodwork and hardwood floors. We sat in a room that probably was the home’s original parlor, with a big mirror hanging over the wood-and-tile mantel.
Since opening last fall, Celaborelle has been drawing in regulars who live in the neighboring Fairmount Historic District. One of them tipped us off that we should give the restaurant a try.
Business has been light every time we’ve eaten at the restaurant, but that’s bound to change. Word is getting out about Celaborelle’s home-cooked Middle Eastern feasts.
Kathryn Jones reviews Tarrant County restaurants for The Dallas Morning News.
Celaborelle 3 stars
Food: 3
Atmosphere: 2.5
Service: 2.5
Price: $ (entrees $4.95-$10)
Address: 2257 Hemphill St., Fort Worth
Phone: 817-922-8118
Hours: Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m., Saturday 5 to 9 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.
Credit cards: AE, D, MC, V
Wheelchair accessible: Yes
Smoking area: Yes
Alcohol: BYOB
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