| Al-Amir Recap |
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What an interesting experience! It is good to experience another
culture, especially one that resides in your own backyard so to speak.
Al-Amir is a Lebanese restaurant and club. They feature, obviously,
Lebanese cuisine and they have two live Belly-Dancing shows. On
Saturdays, the first one starts at 9:30pm and the second one, which
features three belly dancers, happens at 11:30pm. The food, which I
would describe as most closely resembling Greek or Mediterranean
cuisine, was a unique treat. Grape leaves stuffed with rice and
vegetables, lamb kebobs and interesting salads and empanada-like
pastries stuffed with spicy beef, etc... As for the wine, well, when in
Rome, do what the Romans do. In this case that would be Lebanese
wines. We tried two different styles and both exceeded our
expectations. The first was somewhat like a fruity red zinfandel with a
lighter body and the latter, which was much drier, was a blend of spicy
Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Some preferred the first bottle, which is
what the wait staff recommended and it did complement the cuisine very
well. Myself, and most of the men, preferred the drier Cab/Syrah blend
though.
Despite the fact that we had a large portion of our group that had R.S.V.
P.’d for this event that did not show up, the rest of us sat back and
soaked in the experience. For those of you that looked at this event on
our Events Page and wondered how in the world this related to our wine
club, you really missed the boat. Life and indeed wine is an experience,
one that is enjoyed by not only our culture, but many other cultures
around the world. What we learned this night was that the Lebanese can
make some pretty good wines. I’m sure that Napa and Bordeaux’s
reputation as an elite wine region will not be threatened by the Lebanese
anytime soon, but it was better than we anticipated.
Another interesting cultural treat we were exposed to that evening was
called the hookah pipe. I must admit that at first it was a bit
intimidating, but once again, if you are going to put yourself out there
and open your mind up to new things, you might as well try it at least
once. What a hookah pipe is, and it looks like a giant genie bottle with a
tube coming out of it, is like a smoking device, I guess. I think that it is
flavored tobacco, in this case, apple flavored, that passes through water
before going through the tube. All quite legal mind you, but again, I was
a bit out of my element. I’ll go on record as stating that it wasn’t quite
my thing, but oh well, at least I tried it.
If you are interested in going to Al-Amir’s and get the opportunity, I will
make a couple of recommendations to you. One, call ahead in plenty of
time and make a reservation to sit close to the stage. Two, this place
has a late crowd, even for dinner. I would plan on coming around 9pm or
9:15pm so that you can enjoy the first show and see the second as you
are finishing up dinner. All in all, it was a lot of fun and I am glad we
opened up ourselves and allowed us to take in the culture:
culture, especially one that resides in your own backyard so to speak.
Al-Amir is a Lebanese restaurant and club. They feature, obviously,
Lebanese cuisine and they have two live Belly-Dancing shows. On
Saturdays, the first one starts at 9:30pm and the second one, which
features three belly dancers, happens at 11:30pm. The food, which I
would describe as most closely resembling Greek or Mediterranean
cuisine, was a unique treat. Grape leaves stuffed with rice and
vegetables, lamb kebobs and interesting salads and empanada-like
pastries stuffed with spicy beef, etc... As for the wine, well, when in
Rome, do what the Romans do. In this case that would be Lebanese
wines. We tried two different styles and both exceeded our
expectations. The first was somewhat like a fruity red zinfandel with a
lighter body and the latter, which was much drier, was a blend of spicy
Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Some preferred the first bottle, which is
what the wait staff recommended and it did complement the cuisine very
well. Myself, and most of the men, preferred the drier Cab/Syrah blend
though.
Despite the fact that we had a large portion of our group that had R.S.V.
P.’d for this event that did not show up, the rest of us sat back and
soaked in the experience. For those of you that looked at this event on
our Events Page and wondered how in the world this related to our wine
club, you really missed the boat. Life and indeed wine is an experience,
one that is enjoyed by not only our culture, but many other cultures
around the world. What we learned this night was that the Lebanese can
make some pretty good wines. I’m sure that Napa and Bordeaux’s
reputation as an elite wine region will not be threatened by the Lebanese
anytime soon, but it was better than we anticipated.
Another interesting cultural treat we were exposed to that evening was
called the hookah pipe. I must admit that at first it was a bit
intimidating, but once again, if you are going to put yourself out there
and open your mind up to new things, you might as well try it at least
once. What a hookah pipe is, and it looks like a giant genie bottle with a
tube coming out of it, is like a smoking device, I guess. I think that it is
flavored tobacco, in this case, apple flavored, that passes through water
before going through the tube. All quite legal mind you, but again, I was
a bit out of my element. I’ll go on record as stating that it wasn’t quite
my thing, but oh well, at least I tried it.
If you are interested in going to Al-Amir’s and get the opportunity, I will
make a couple of recommendations to you. One, call ahead in plenty of
time and make a reservation to sit close to the stage. Two, this place
has a late crowd, even for dinner. I would plan on coming around 9pm or
9:15pm so that you can enjoy the first show and see the second as you
are finishing up dinner. All in all, it was a lot of fun and I am glad we
opened up ourselves and allowed us to take in the culture:
