1 week Ago
Atmosphere: 16/20 Menu: 17/20 Food: 18/20 Service: 16/20 Value: 16/20 TOTAL: 83/100 We hadn’t planned on visiting Beiruti on Saturday night, but when we got there, it was a blast from the past for Mrs. Gourmet and me. It was Mrs.
G’s birthday, and I had decided to take her out for Mediterranean — one of her favorite cuisines. Our son and one of his best buddies came along for the celebration, and we headed to Salem to a new place that we had never heard of before. Unfortunately, when we arrived around 5 p.
m. without a reservation, the small restaurant was packed, and we were told that the earliest they’d be able to accommodate us would be some two hours later. So we trooped back out to the car and pulled out our phones to find a substitute.
Soon, we found the website for Beiruti — a classy looking place that didn’t show up on our long list of restaurants we’ve previously reviewed. A quick phone call got us a reservation for 6:30 p.m.
So off we went, winding through the back roads of Salem until we hit Broadway (aka Route 28). After a couple of stops to kill time along the way, our GPS devices had us driving through random neighborhoods and taking U-turns until we finally wound up at 355 South Broadway – in the parking lot of a place that looked very familiar. Turns out Beiruti used to be Jocelyn’s, and the reason it looked so familiar is that we’d been there twice before.
But Jocelyn’s closed in 2023 after a family split, and the owners’ plan was to convert the space into a cigar bar. Over the course of the next year, the cigar bar opened, but the owners later decided to scale back in size, and the restaurant reopened this fall under the new name. Inside, the surroundings are familiar as well.
The restaurant is long and narrow, running along the front of the building, in a space a couple of tables deep with a long bar along the back wall. Dishes from the Middle East dominate the menu, with nearly two dozen items on both the appetizer and entree menus. According to the website, operator Richard Sfeir’s father, George, and brother, Elie, are running the kitchen, as they did when it was Jocelyn’s.
Whenever we dine out with our son and any of his old school pals, it’s automatic that the tab more than doubles. And that was the case this night as well. We started out with four appetizers: Baba ghannouj ($11), kibbe balls ($10), spanikopita ($8) and spicy eggplant ($14).
We enjoyed them all, with the baba ghannouj being acclaimed as the favorite thanks to the delicious smokiness of the roasted eggplant puree. The kibbe — croquettes of finely ground beef and onion — were meaty and delicious. The tomato and jalapeno sauce provided the kick to the breaded, fried spicy eggplant.
And the spanikopita was good, but a couple of the phyllo pillows weren’t quite warmed through. We made a tactical error when we decided not to order our main dishes until after we finished the appetizers. First, the appetizers came out one at a time, which was fine for leisurely dining, but it led to a delay of at least 30 minutes after we finished them before our entrees arrived.
It was a busy night, and the staff was very apologetic, but still, we ended up at the table for a solid two hours. For our entrees, we ordered beef shawarma ($24), Mediterranean haddock ($24), the Beiruti Mixed Grill ($30, with skewers of chicken, kafta and lamb), and lamb chops ($45). I had the shawarma — which coincidentally was the same dish I had last time we were at Jocelyn’s.
The matchstick beef slices were tender and nicely spiced, tangy with from tomato, onion and maybe a splash of lemon. Mrs. G had the haddock, topped with tomato, onion and garlic.
She enjoyed the fish but she thought it could use more of the topping sauce to make it a bit more “Mediterranean.” Our son ordered the lamb chops, which were perfectly grilled to medium rare. They smelled and tasted great, but we all thought they could have used a bit more seasoning to bring out more Middle Eastern flavor.
As mentioned above, our server (whose name we unfortunately didn’t catch) was unfailingly pleasant and helpful, and apologetic about the pace of service. Value factor is good, considering the quality of food and portion size. The Salem area is a hotbed of Mediterranean dining, and Beiruti continues the tradition that we’ve come to know at 355 South Broadway.
355 South Broadway, Salem; 603-870-0045; beirutiresto.com Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.
-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.
m.-10 p.m.
; Sunday 11 a.m.-8 p.
m. Closed Monday. Cuisine: Mediterranean/Middle Eastern Pricing: Appetizers $8-$14; dinner entrees $20-$45.
Beiruti Mediterranean 355 South Broadway, Salem; 603-870-0045; beirutiresto.com Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.
-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.
m.-10 p.m.
; Sunday 11 a.m.-8 p.
m. Closed Monday. Cuisine: Mediterranean/Middle Eastern Pricing: Appetizers $8-$14; dinner entrees $20-$45.
Scores for Beiruti Atmosphere: 16/20 Menu: 17/20 Food: 18/20 Service: 16/20 Value: 16/20 TOTAL: 83/100.
