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In the grip of shawarma
Lunchtime in Baton Rouge has always involved stalwart regional dishes like plate lunches and po-boys, but something else has commanded the noontime lineup: Lebanese food. Traverse nearly any neighborhood and there's a Mediterranean-inspired eatery waiting to efficiently dish up golden-brown chicken shawarma, crunchy feta salads, tightly wrapped grape leaves and pita ready for bending and dragging through creamy, tangy hummus. Even the threat of garlic breath can't squelch the loyalty locals feel for this cuisine, which has curiously become one of most enduring in the Capital City. With 26 Lebanese-inspired restaurants in town and the number growing, the shawarma-rich fare is as popular as Chinese and Tex-Mex, two cuisines that have long dominated the ethnic restaurant segment throughout the United States.
"There are a lot of Lebanese restaurants in South Louisiana, and the number continues to grow," says Tom Weatherly of the Louisiana Restaurant Association. "It's a type of cuisine that's gained a lot of acceptance in the region and has done very well in this part of the state."
The local trend dates back to December 1979 when Vasken Kaltakdjian, a Syrian emigre of Lebanese-Armenian descent, opened Serop's, the area's first Lebanese restaurant. Kaltakdjian's father had been a successful fast food restaurateur in Damascus. An uncle already established in Baton Rouge convinced the family that the community would embrace a traditional Lebanese restaurant, so with proceeds from the sale of the Syrian eateries, they opened the spot now occupied by La Carreta on Government Street. Serop's aimed to introduce grape leaves, hummus and pita, falafel, kibbi and more to a market long fixated largely on steaks and fried seafood.
Kaltakdjian's mother and aunt cooked personal recipes, dishes that drew the attention of the sizeable number of local families of Lebanese descent, recalls Kaltakdjian. Unfortunately, penetrating the mainstream market was more difficult.
"It was tough the first 10 years," Kaltakdjian recalls. "Back then, it wasn't like it was today where people are willing to try new foods. It took us a while to learn what people would like."
The restaurant's recipes went through several iterations in order to get in synch with the expectations of diners. Locals craved assertive flavors, but those usually came in the form of hot sauce and cayenne pepper, not in the hefty use of garlic.
During a round of menu-tweaking in 1980, Kaltakdjian's uncle, Vasken DJoundrian, was visiting from Lebanon. A restaurateur and an owner in a chicken farm, DJoundrian had pioneered chicken shawarma in Lebanon in 1976, says Kaltakdjian. It was a new take on a dish associated mostly with lamb. Kaltakdjian began serving it in what he believes was the dish's maiden voyage in America.
It flopped.
"It didn't sell at all," Kaltakdjian says. "People said, 'there's way too much garlic.' A year later, we took it off the menu. Then, in 1983, by the time chicken, garlic, olive oil were considered healthy foods, we introduced it again."
 About the same time, something else happened to cast the city's future passion for Mediterranean fare. Foreign students Jamal Roman, Naser Abudyak and Nabeel Badawi moved to Baton Rouge to attend LSU's engineering program. They would eventually become restaurateurs.
Roman, founder of Roman's Cafe, emigrated from Syria in 1982 to study mechanical engineering. By 1986, he had opened the first Roman's Cafe on Government Street. He added the super-tender Greek meat sandwich, gyros, to his menu, and pioneered the term Greek-Lebanese restaurant. The name is now ubiquitous in Baton Rouge, but is unusual just about anywhere else, says operating partner Rafat Roman, Jamal’s nephew.
"He just came up with it, and before long everybody was serving gyros and calling themselves Greek and Lebanese," he says.
Similarly, says Rafat, Jamal Roman pioneered so-called Lebanese tea, the lemonade-spiked iced tea with a splash of rosewater and a sprinkle of pine nuts.
"That doesn't exist in Lebanon," Rafat admits. "He made that up. Now everyone in Baton Rouge drinks Lebanese tea."
If the 1980s were a time to train local palates, the 1990s provided the payoff. By then, the community was starting to see the cuisine as an affordable, convenient treat with substantial flavor. Garlic or not, Greek-Lebanese became a lunchtime favorite.
By then, restaurants like Arzi's and Albasha had opened and were beginning to expand. Meanwhile, smaller niche restaurants like Atcha Bakery on Nicholson Drive near LSU and Cafe Mediterranean, downtown's first Lebanese-inspired restaurant, nurtured a loyal clientele.
Naser Abudyak and Nabeel Badawi opened Albasha in 1992 after a few years of working for other Lebanese restaurants. Today, they have four locations in Baton Rouge and Prairieville as well as spots in Covington and Shreveport.
"People have been eating this here for a long time," Badawi says. "They know it, and they love it."
As smaller, casual restaurants became the standard for Lebanese cuisine throughout the nineties, business suffered for Serop's. Kaltakdjian began to rethink his model, and in 2002 closed the restaurant that started it all. The family opened the wildly popular quick-serve Serop's Express restaurants and Serop's Cafes, two casual eateries that have further framed Lebanese food as accessible, tasty and convenient.
"We never expected Lebanese food to become this popular," Kaltakdjian says.
Still, he believes the immediate future has room for innovation.
"I think you'll see more of these restaurants, but with a twist. You can't keep doing the same thing," he says. "I have some new ideas about what will work."
By Maggie Heyn Richardson
Serop's Cafe was shown among 25 restaurants unique to Baton Rouge
# By TRACY SIMONEAUX
# 2theadvocate.com Staff
# Published: Dec 30, 2005
- A Baton Rouge-owned Lebanese restaurant serves traditional greek and Lebanese favorites plus local favorites such as shrimp and crawfish stuffed chicken.
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