Hungrygrrl

Cobe’s been here a few times for lunch and has raved about the kebabs so we finally made it there for dinner.

It was 9:30 by the time we got there and as we stepped in we smelled grilling meat. Lola is inviting, high ceilings and dramatic stained glass lamps. The waitress walked us to a cozy booth with a rack at the end to hold our coats.

The menu has an array of options, from small plates like spreads and kebabs, to larger entrees like hanger steak and a variety of tagines. It straddles that greek-moroccan-turkish line, settling for vaguely mediterranean. And despite the tempting meatiness of the mediterranean grill, there are also plentiful vegetarian options: mushroom kebabs, red pepper spreads, delicata squash. I was eyeing the goat and rabbit, but that was a bit beyond Cobe’s taste so we settled for tamer fare.

We started with their barrel aged feta spread which came with house made pita squares and was not too salty, flavored with mint. Then we moved onto a pork and harissa kebab layered over onions and doused with ouzo. The pork was perfectly cooked, heightened by the peppers and paprika of the harissa. And the onions were to die for, caramelized where they’d touched the hot grill, and flavored with the ouzo. I scraped that platter clean, trying to place the taste.

The greens that followed (called “horta” in Greek, a mix of chard and escarole) were horrible. The smell alone turned me off, but the taste was worse. The kitchen had tried to fix them, adding lemon and salt and they had become a sour bitter mess.

Beets were much better, perfectly roasted and served with a side of skordalia, their red juices spilling over the plate. And then our main course arrived, smoked lamb leg with preserved lemon. The center was perfectly pink and moist, but I kept wishing for that crusty char of the kebab. It needed something, a sweetness to counter that smokiness, and the parsley and preserved lemon weren’t enough. Grilled figs would have set it off wonderfully, or perhaps cherries.

By this point in the meal we had finished two small carafes of their house red, a blend of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, made for them by Chinoook winery. It was silky smooth and full of body, the perfect house wine. “Dessert?” the waitress asked, placing the menus on the table.

We decided on the pear tart with brown sugar ice cream, and in a few minutes the plate was nearly licked clean. The pears were moist and lush with the faintest hint of rosemary, the crust caramelized with a little sugar, and set off by the house made ice cream.

A nice meal, all in all, in a beautiful setting. But next time we’ll stick to the kebabs.

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Lola
2000 4th Ave
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 441-1430
http://tomdouglas.com/lola/index.html