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CAROUSEL: THE JOY OF MEZZE, WITH OR WITHOUT BELLY DANCING
By Jonathan Gold
LA Weekly
http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/01/jonathan_gold_carousel.php
Jan 11 2012
CA
The Lebanese-Armenian restaurant Carousel has been holding down its
position in Little Armenia longer than almost anyone can remember,
as it's a reliable place for kebab platters, the usual salads, and an
exemplary version of muhammara, a rough, spicy paste of pomegranate
molasses, roasted peppers and crushed walnuts that carries all the
wallop of Mexican chorizo without any of the hog grease. Carousel
is especially good for birthday parties and such -- you get a fairly
enormous fixed spread of mezze for about $23.50 a head, you can bring
your own wine (there is no alcohol license), and you can bring your
own cake if you're into that sort of thing.
Carousel's sister restaurant, a fancy Glendale place with belly
dancing, seafood dishes and oceans of arak, has been getting all
the press for the last decade or so. But party or no, Carousel is
worth visiting, for its slabs of spicy sujuk sausage; for its chopped
eggplant with onion and tomato; for its slivers of marinated, grilled
liver; for its thick lebneh; and for its huge plate of pickles, too:
green and black olives, pickled turnip sticks dyed scarlet with beet
juice, sprigs of fresh mint and soft slabs of salty feta cheese.
Arayes seems the Armenian equivalent of the Sloppy Joe, a savory
ground-meat/tomato mixture sandwiched in pita. Almost everybody seems
to order one of the kebab platters, and why not? The ground-meat
kofta is especially good.
By Jonathan Gold
LA Weekly
http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/01/jonathan_gold_carousel.php
Jan 11 2012
CA
The Lebanese-Armenian restaurant Carousel has been holding down its
position in Little Armenia longer than almost anyone can remember,
as it's a reliable place for kebab platters, the usual salads, and an
exemplary version of muhammara, a rough, spicy paste of pomegranate
molasses, roasted peppers and crushed walnuts that carries all the
wallop of Mexican chorizo without any of the hog grease. Carousel
is especially good for birthday parties and such -- you get a fairly
enormous fixed spread of mezze for about $23.50 a head, you can bring
your own wine (there is no alcohol license), and you can bring your
own cake if you're into that sort of thing.
Carousel's sister restaurant, a fancy Glendale place with belly
dancing, seafood dishes and oceans of arak, has been getting all
the press for the last decade or so. But party or no, Carousel is
worth visiting, for its slabs of spicy sujuk sausage; for its chopped
eggplant with onion and tomato; for its slivers of marinated, grilled
liver; for its thick lebneh; and for its huge plate of pickles, too:
green and black olives, pickled turnip sticks dyed scarlet with beet
juice, sprigs of fresh mint and soft slabs of salty feta cheese.
Arayes seems the Armenian equivalent of the Sloppy Joe, a savory
ground-meat/tomato mixture sandwiched in pita. Almost everybody seems
to order one of the kebab platters, and why not? The ground-meat
kofta is especially good.