me and my sister with sitty at her 90th birthday party last monthanyone who has a little old grandma knows that they LOVE food. sitty is no exception. her specialties are sort of slightly americanized lebanese foods. for example, her kibby is made out of beef rather than lamb, and she uses butter rather than ghee a lot of the time. sitty's main goal in life is to stuff everyone she knows with food at every hour of the day and night until they cannot eat another crumb. she accomplishes this by creating dishes that are so delicious you cannot help but eat them until you are ready to explode.
good lebanese food is practically impossible to find in cincinnati. i thought mejana was awful and i think andy's is tasteless and boring. i have extremely high standards, not only because of my sitty but also because i spent a good part of my childhood in the detroit area, which is home to the largest population of middle eastern people outside of the middle east. i have had the privilege of eating a damn lot of really fucking good lebanese food in my life.
i had never tried floyd's before, mainly because i really didn't believe there could be good lebanese food in this city. but when heather of food hussy emailed me about doing a joint blog, i decided it was time to give it a shot. veggie option joined us to give perspective on the non-meat options (which are key to lebanese cuisine).
first, the atmosphere. it is very small and relaxed. a little old lebanese lady (not quite as little and old as my sitty, but on her way) wanders around to find out if you have ordered a chicken. this is key! if you want the spit-roasted lemon chicken for which floyd's is famous, you must order it ahead of time. they run out that fast. fortunately, heather had thought of this and ordered us a chicken.
the service was great. the waitress is (i am guessing) the owner's daughter and she is super nice and helpful and very patient. she even offered to let us come back into the kitchen and look at the sides before we picked. of course we took her up on that, but it only made our decision harder. the prices are very good, pretty much nothing over $15, and most entrees in the $9-12 range.
hummus, pickles, tabbouli, and lots of lima beans
the food was really delicious. i had half a chicken with two sides: tabbouli and lima beans. ok, i am not a lima bean fan (who is, really?), but these were awesome. very soft, lemony, and garlicky. veggie option agreed. the tabbouli (sitty, if you are reading this please stop... who am i kidding, she has no idea how to operate a computer)... it is better than my sitty's. sorry. i had to put that really small in case someone in my family reads this because my life could be on the line. but truly, the tabbouli was amazing. lemony, but not overpowering. oniony. bulghur-y. sooooo good.
on to the chicken. oh my god. the chicken is some of the best chicken i have ever had. it is sooo lemony and juicy and they leave the skin on which is all brown and crispy. the only part i didn't really like was the breast, because it was a little dry and bland, but then i am not really a white meat fan. the chicken is absolutely delicious.
me and heather with the chicken. not pictured: veggie option, who wishes to preserve her anonymity. the chicken on the other hand is a camera whore.
floyd's makes their own pita bread and it is a step above most pita breads. not as good as the syrian bread that i am used to from my childhood, but very flavorful and fresh.
heather got the half chicken with hummus (which i thought was good but not spectacular) and a spinach pie, which was very good. veggie option got the lima beans, some pickled vegetables (turnips, cauliflower, carrot, garlic... yum), and stuffed peppers. she cleaned her plates.
of course being food bloggers, we had to try dessert too. veggie option and i both got the baklava, which was ok but does not hold a candle to my sitty's (there, i am redeemed). heather got the lebanese pancakes which were small, thick crepes filled with whipped cream in a syrup. i had never heard of this before and it was really good. creamy and sweet but not too sweet.
fyi, floyd's does not serve alcohol but they are happy to let you byo, which i love.
all in all, an excellent meal. i had so much fun meeting other food bloggers who share my obsession with photographing their food and who were not embarrassed to order like 5 different things each to try. and i love floyd's and cannot wait to try all their lebanese specialties! i wonder if they will make me raw kibby...
good lebanese food is practically impossible to find in cincinnati. i thought mejana was awful and i think andy's is tasteless and boring. i have extremely high standards, not only because of my sitty but also because i spent a good part of my childhood in the detroit area, which is home to the largest population of middle eastern people outside of the middle east. i have had the privilege of eating a damn lot of really fucking good lebanese food in my life.
i had never tried floyd's before, mainly because i really didn't believe there could be good lebanese food in this city. but when heather of food hussy emailed me about doing a joint blog, i decided it was time to give it a shot. veggie option joined us to give perspective on the non-meat options (which are key to lebanese cuisine).
first, the atmosphere. it is very small and relaxed. a little old lebanese lady (not quite as little and old as my sitty, but on her way) wanders around to find out if you have ordered a chicken. this is key! if you want the spit-roasted lemon chicken for which floyd's is famous, you must order it ahead of time. they run out that fast. fortunately, heather had thought of this and ordered us a chicken.
the service was great. the waitress is (i am guessing) the owner's daughter and she is super nice and helpful and very patient. she even offered to let us come back into the kitchen and look at the sides before we picked. of course we took her up on that, but it only made our decision harder. the prices are very good, pretty much nothing over $15, and most entrees in the $9-12 range.
hummus, pickles, tabbouli, and lots of lima beansthe food was really delicious. i had half a chicken with two sides: tabbouli and lima beans. ok, i am not a lima bean fan (who is, really?), but these were awesome. very soft, lemony, and garlicky. veggie option agreed. the tabbouli (sitty, if you are reading this please stop... who am i kidding, she has no idea how to operate a computer)... it is better than my sitty's. sorry. i had to put that really small in case someone in my family reads this because my life could be on the line. but truly, the tabbouli was amazing. lemony, but not overpowering. oniony. bulghur-y. sooooo good.
on to the chicken. oh my god. the chicken is some of the best chicken i have ever had. it is sooo lemony and juicy and they leave the skin on which is all brown and crispy. the only part i didn't really like was the breast, because it was a little dry and bland, but then i am not really a white meat fan. the chicken is absolutely delicious.
me and heather with the chicken. not pictured: veggie option, who wishes to preserve her anonymity. the chicken on the other hand is a camera whore.floyd's makes their own pita bread and it is a step above most pita breads. not as good as the syrian bread that i am used to from my childhood, but very flavorful and fresh.
heather got the half chicken with hummus (which i thought was good but not spectacular) and a spinach pie, which was very good. veggie option got the lima beans, some pickled vegetables (turnips, cauliflower, carrot, garlic... yum), and stuffed peppers. she cleaned her plates.
of course being food bloggers, we had to try dessert too. veggie option and i both got the baklava, which was ok but does not hold a candle to my sitty's (there, i am redeemed). heather got the lebanese pancakes which were small, thick crepes filled with whipped cream in a syrup. i had never heard of this before and it was really good. creamy and sweet but not too sweet.
fyi, floyd's does not serve alcohol but they are happy to let you byo, which i love.
all in all, an excellent meal. i had so much fun meeting other food bloggers who share my obsession with photographing their food and who were not embarrassed to order like 5 different things each to try. and i love floyd's and cannot wait to try all their lebanese specialties! i wonder if they will make me raw kibby...
6 comments:
Ah, Floyd's. We used to joke in college that we had no idea how it stayed open... because it never WAS open. Every time I ever tried to go there it was closed. Lunch, dinner, you name it. I think by the end of Sophomore year I gave up. Glad to hear it's actually a) open and b) worth my nearly ten year wait. :)
We are such geeks - having to get our blogs up same night!!!!
And that damn chicken - trying to steal our spotlight!!!!
Funny reading both of our perspectives on it!
I guess I'm into exclamation points!!
Until next time (Emanu!)...
That chicken keeps me coming back and the older lebanese woman, of course. liz, I've tried their kibbe, it's good but that's also coming from someone that doesn't have sitty as a grandma.
a friend and I are going to either flyod's or Cilantro for lunch this week. now I can't wait.
Before I became a lazy fathead my gf and I used to play tennis at UC and then pick up a half chicken at Floyd's (if they were open) to take home for our ceasar salads. Good stuff.
Haven't been back in years, though. That is my Floyd's story.
Taz at the Fields Ertel exit off 71 in Mason is supposed to have Lebanese food....I cannot recall if you have been there?
oooh, i haven't been... i will have to add it to the list
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