Scott McKeen

There really are two kinds of people in the world.

1) Those who enjoy it when a belly dancer shimmies up to the table and stares seductively into their eyes.

2) And those who don't.

Take that kid over there -- the one buried into his dad's lap to avoid the dancer's gaze? He's the latter.

The former is represented by Docker Guy across the room. The belly dancer easily charmed him out of his chair and he's wiggling like bait.

Me? I'm with the kid. But I can't duck under the table so I pretend to be completely absorbed in everything but the dancer -- the view out the window, the decor, the food.

Fortunately, distraction isn't difficult at the Parkallen Restaurant's newest outlet on Stony Plain Road. It's a good-looking room, nicely moody with elegant hanging lamps, linen on the tables, art prints on the walls.

Then there's our server this evening, a man whose manners are only exceeded by the delight he takes in our choices .

"Oh, excellent," he says. "Excellent, sir. Thank you, thank you."

The Parkallen, for the uninitiated, is the creation of the Rustom family. Years ago, they opened their original place on 109th St. and expanded the business along with a loyal fanbase. Pizza is a staple, but Parkallen also added burgers, steaks and pastas to the menu. It also has a wonderful wine list.

Most important, I think, is the selection of Lebanese specialties now on the diverse menu.

Four months ago, the Rustoms opened this place on Stony Plain Road, which they call simply Parkallen West. The tables are busy on a Saturday evening and a number of diners are enjoying Parkallen's pizza. We decide to go Meditteranean all the way.

Parkallen offers starters and entree-size plates of such Lebanese standards as hummus and baba ghanouj -- respectively, chick pea and eggplant spreads - as well as tabouli salad and the spiced meatballs called kafta.

Kebabs, stuffed grape leaves and fatouche salad are also available. Combination plates range upwards from $15.

We begin with a small order of baba ganouj, $5, as well as some filo shrimp, $8.95. The eggplant dip, served with fresh pita, is creamy-rich and tart. The pinky-size shrimp, filo-wrapped and quick fried, are crisp, subtly sweet and quite delightful.

We decide to split a full entree of lamb. A double rack, with sides of hummus, tabouli salad and Lebanese-style rice, is $29.

We also order a starter portion of fatayre -- four spiced-beef meat pies wrapped in Parkallen's family-secret dough, for $8.

The lamb turns out to be perfect for sharing. Each rack is big and meaty -- big enough, in fact, to satisfy almost any appetite -- and cooked to the point where the bones pull away with a gentle tug. The Lebanese rice is pungent with seasonings, including cinnamon, while the hummus is one of the milder versions I've tasted.

The fatayre are simply presented and reminiscent in flavour to a ground beef pizza.

Dessert offerings include baklava, a Lebanese-style cheese cake, knaffe and a number of Western favourites.

We share a lovely date square, dusted in oatmeal, with vanilla ice cream on the side.

The shrimp, the lamb, the date square -- these are better ways, I think, to make a belly dance.

Wayne Moriarty

The furnishings of the old Parkallen restaurant were just enough chairs to fulfil the modest expectations of the few tables.

Then, say three months ago, the room next door, which used to be a TV repair shop, became part of the expanded and beautified version of the Parkallen. There is risk, of course, when a neighbourhood fixture undergoes change.

You don't want to become less of a restaurant and more of a display.

Sometimes a face-lift makes you look beautiful; sometimes it makes you look like Lucy.

The Rustom family, a charming and warm lot, went about the business of change smartly. After 12 years of pushing pizzas, pies of considerable reputation, the Rustoms expanded the menu to include Lebanese cuisine.

Before the change, the fabulous Lebanese fare came out only on Saturday night. This weekly event gained a following, much like clam- chowder Friday at the Red Ox Inn.

The decision to offer the baba ganouche, lebni, kafta, et al daily was a good move with great timing: the other fixture in town for Lebanese cuisine, Chateau Beirut, closed late this summer.

So, with an expanded and exciting menu in mind, the Rustoms went about expanding the restaurant. It is now roughly twice the size it was, with a new kitchen. The room itself is spotless. The old side is for non-smoking; the new side for smokers. The walls are covered with framed copies of The Journal from a million years ago -- the days when colour funnies included the likes of Donald Duck and Johnny Hazard.

On the wall by the bar is a dizzying flurry of press clippings on the family. They've deservedly been in the papers a number of times over the past 12 years.

The only real hint that this is an ethnic restaurant is the odd concession to a picture of Lebanon.

"Pizza is still what we do," says Marcelle, one of two daughters and three children in the family. They all have careers outside the restaurant, but continue to assist mom and dad.

It's late on a midweek night when three young zombies come in for pizza and cigarettes -- neighbourhood kids who look dangerous in a Kiefer-Sutherland-movie-kind-of-way. Which is to say "harmless."

Following the teens through the door at around 10:30 is a fresh looking couple in need of pie: "Are you still serving pizza?"

Pizzas paid the bills here for a long time and it doesn't look like that's going to change, even though it's the Lebanese food that qualifies as high art.

I've had pies here; and the sub sandwiches. These efforts are distinctive. The pies are thick, cheesy numbers with a lively tomato sauce, a sturdy crust and all the obligatory toppings. The subs are packed and toasted. There is a fresh crunch to all that rolls out of the kitchen.

But it is the likes of Lebanese fatouche salad and the marinated kafta combo that I have come to praise most excessively.

The salad is the signature offering here: a thick medley of romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, radishes, parsley and baked pita chips livened with Lebanese spices and drenched in a healthy dressing of oil and lemon -- heavy on the lemon.

You might also consider one of the many kebobs on the menu. My favourite is the venerable sheish kebob -- four skewers of tender beef marinated like only the Lebanese can marinate.

The marinated kafta is a pleasure, as well. This traditional dish is wildly spicy and should be eaten with a Lebanese rice -- the slivered almonds, beef and spices make it Lebanese.

Also on the side, sample the humus and pita or the baba-ganouche or the tabouli.

Kafta, by the way, is a finely ground serving of marinated beef rolled with parsley and onions then baked. Here, they served it with a display of vibrant pickled vegetables.

If you go, and you really should, and if you are tempted by the pizza or subs or onions rings or back ribs or steaks or barbecue chicken, why not strap on the belt and live a little dangerously. Go for the Lebanese.

Richard Helm

It's not easy for any new business to sneak onto the commercial stretch of 109th Street between Whyte Avenue and the High Level Bridge in an unassuming fashion, much less a new dining house.

The Parkallen Restaurant's latest balm to big appetites seems to have pulled off the feat, which is even more amazing when you consider the place's bloodlines. Parkallen Pizza quietly set up shop in the old Miami Pizza location just a few months back. The idea was to catch the overflow of customers being turned away from the bustling mother ship restaurant the Rustom family has been operating further down 109th Street for about 15 years now.

Word of mouth -- a phrase never more laden with meaning than when it's applied to the pizzeria trade -- is starting to get the news out, particularly among the university crowd. If you're looking for great pizza, sold by the slice if that's your fancy, this spot is definitely worth a visit. The current hot seller is the Bacon Pizza, topped with real bacon strips rather than that processed crumble that's passed off in other establishments.

Joseph Rustom says the business hours have been thrown for a bit of a loop during Edmonton's frantic festival season, with the Parkallen gang slinging pizza at Taste of Edmonton and Big Valley and, coming soon, The Fringe.

The new outlet's regular lunch service has been suspended through the end of August, but the place still opens daily from 4:30 p.m. to 11.

The menu here is Parkallen lite, restricted mostly to pizzas, donairs and salads.

Sadly there is little of the Rustom's signature Lebanese fare. (What, no baba-ganoush?) A notable exception is the richly praised fatouche salad ($8), a thick medley of romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, radishes, parsley and baked pita chips, livened with Lebanese spices and drenched in a dressing of oil and lemon.

Unlike Parkallen West, a fine dining expansion that opened on Stony Plain Road last year, Parkallen Pizza is a small outlet with modest ambitions. (Maybe not such a bad call: the west-end experiment is already being remodelled as a bar.)

A couple of tables crowd up against a pizza bar just inside the door, but the main dining area upstairs is bright and welcoming. Mirrors hung on the walls overlook seven tables and the air wafting in from the street below is sometimes aromatic with the fine tobacco for sale at the cigar shop next door. If you like Borkum Riff with your anchovies, this is the place for you. I rather liked it the day I dropped by.

Pizzas pay the bills here -- Parkallen has always been known for the quality of its pies -- but don't overlook the chicken pita ($6.95), a savoury fistful of marinated chicken breast, sliced and spiced and wrapped with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers and tsatsiki sauce. Another Parkallen staple, a strong selection of wines, is available to help wash everything down.

Sheryl Campbell

When Edmonton's acclaimed Parkallen Restaurant recently opened a new location on Stony Plain Road, it was time to experience the food that so many people on the south side loved.

In its previous incarnation, the Building Parkallen West now occupies was an Italian restaurant with high ceilings and an open kitchen.

Now painted a warm, earthy taupe with hanging light fixtures, the Parkallen West has lots of Lebanese ambiance. The dining room is interesting and elegant. The kitchen was completely renovated and includes a massive wine rack to hold some of its award-winning wine collection.

Renovations rang in at approximately $60,000, on top of the $700,000 investment in the land and building.

Joseph Rustom, chef and co-owner, smiled and shook his head when he spoke of the grand opening.

"All we did was put a sign out front stating that we were having our grand opening op May 6," Rustom said. "We had 380 people come through that evening. We served free wine and appetizers all night long, and all our prepared dishes disappeared. We had to close for three days to prepare more."

We arrived just past noon on a Tuesday, and the dining room was moderately busy. My date and I decided to indulge in only Lebanese dishes, but there are also daily lunch pizza specials and a variety of burgers, donairs and salads available.

We began with the Lebanese Fatouche Salad ($8.00). It is a wonderful mixture of romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes; onions, green peppers, chopped parsley and baked pita chips. The dressing is lemon and oil with a variety of spices that meld together perfectly. One regular portion was more than enough for two, and side plates were provided for our own servings.

Both of us found this salad to be very delicious. It was crisp, tart and had so much flavor it was hard to stop eating! I was the lucky one who took the leftovers home, and the .salad was just as good the next day.

We decided to share a number of items for our main meal, including Grape Leaf Rolls, Fatayre (small baked beef meat pies with tomato, spices and onions), and Falafel, the well-known dish of deep fried ground chickpeas and beans.

All arrived shortly after we finished the salad.

The Grape Leaf Rolls ($9.00) were very plentiful with eight to an order, and we found them light but substantial with rice and beef wrapped in tender grape leaves. These are nutritious, tasty appetizers, and actually tasted better the next day.

The Falafels ($4.50) were full of spicy texture and flavor, but seemed just a little bit dry. However, with a few spoonfuls of the accompanying sesame seed sauce and a sip of hearty red wine, the meal continued to be interesting and delicious.

Fatayre ($8.00) was our least favorite. The meat pies looked good but also seemed a little dry. There was no accompanying sauce to moisten the meat pies, although the beef filling did have lots of flavor. They weren't bad, but I wasn't tempted to eat more than one.

The most popular lunch items are pizza and donairs, even though the Rustoms did their best to deter customers from this habit a few years ago.

"We raised the prices on our menu five times in one year" says Rustom. "We were trying to veer away from serving so much pizza, but people just kept coming despite the price increases.

Rustom also noted that prices had been so low before the increases their profit margin had been minimal.

Food costs at the Parkallen run at approximately 45 per cent, due to the labor required to prepare the Lebanese specialties.

"My mom Nahia makes all the complicated Lebanese dishes by hand," says Rustom. "It is very labor-intensive."

The new west end location has been doing very well, even though lunches are not as busy as expected. The restaurant has been averaging monthly revenues of $65,000, which should only increase when a patio opens next spring.

The only changes to the menu planned are a possible .expansion of the steak dishes. "Our menu is successful, so we are not going to change what our customers like" said Rustom.

Judy Schultz

Joseph Rustom and his family now own and operate three busy restaurants in Edmonton, and the chef's only free time is Sunday.

On Sunday, they lock up all three and stay home for a whole day.

"It's our family time. Could be a small group, or could be 30 to 40 people," he says. "Especially if it's a birthday. Birthdays are a big tradition with us."

Lebanese meals are never small, and he says it takes five to six hours to prepare a proper made-from-scratch dinner.

No matter what the occasion, Joseph wants kibi -- steak tartare made with raw beef flavoured with allspice.

"It has soaked bulgur, or cracked wheat, added. We use a lot of cracked wheat. It's plentiful, it's cheap, and it helps hold things together. It's a natural filler."

No Lebanese meal is complete without the vegetarian mixture called falafel.

"In the Middle East, people love it as a snack -- like your hotdog stand, we'd have a falafel stand."

He'd always serve an eggplant dish, and one of his favourites is the delectable baba ganouche. He roasts the eggplant slowly, for at least three hours, so it's very soft and creamy. When it's done, put it under cold water fast, and the skin comes right off.

Traditionally, it was roasted over an open flame. The electric oven doesn't quite match the flavour, he says.

"We can't forget rice pilaf. We always have it with a meal."

He starts with some beef, browning the meat with quite a lot of cinnamon, adding the rice to cook in the beef fat, then seasoning it with salt and pepper. It cooks on the stove top, with just enough water to puff up the rice.

"The meat is almost always kebabs, either beef or chicken," he says. "Lebanon is a modern country, tastes have moved away from lamb to beef."

He might also serve trout -- his favourite fish. It would be very simply fried, and served with lemon and the falafel sauce.

He laughs about their traditional sweet tooth, the reason behind so many honey-dripping pastries.

"We always have an assortment of baklava. My mother makes it at the restaurant."

Joseph has tried the instant versions of Lebanese dishes that are available now, and he thinks they aren't bad.

One of his favourites for a quick snack is falafel -- Lebanese street food.

"Most supermarkets have a pretty good mix for falafel. Cedars or Near East brand are pretty good. Just follow the directions."

All you have to do is prepare the fresh vegetables to go with it: Radishes, parsley, pickled turnips.

Put the cooked falafel balls on the pita. Add radish, tomatoes, onions, pickled turnips, sesame sauce, fresh parsley. Roll it and eat it.

Pickled Turnips a la Rustom

Makes about 2 cups

• 3 medium purple-topped turnips
• medium beet
• salt
• vinegar
• water

Shred peeled raw turnip with a coarse grater, then add a raw, peeled, sliced beet. Pour water, half and half with vinegar, over it to cover. Add about 1 teaspoon (5 mL) salt. Cover. Leave overnight. Drain, and remove the beet slices, which are there to colour the turnip.

Tahini Sauce

Makes about 2 cups

• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) tahini
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) water
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) cayenne
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) parsley (finely chopped)

Mash garlic and salt together in a bowl. Add Tahini, blending well (Tahini will thicken). Gradually add water to soften mixture. Blend in lemon juice and cayenne. Stir in chopped parsley and serve as a dip for fresh vegetables, pita bread and falafel.