Samy Bachachi, general manager of the just-opened Café Byblos (6134 Richmond, 832-251-0505), has been in Houston since 1990 and used to own Cent’Anni and Al Diwan. “At Byblos, my partner, Assad Boulos, and I have created an elegant but affordable Lebanese restaurant where proper attire is required, with nightly entertainment. During the week, we have belly dancing and on weekends we have live music. We’re bringing in top acts from the Middle East, and already many evenings are sold out.”
As for the food, “we make our own pita bread in a brick oven, and everything is fresh. Our kebabs are wonderful, and so is our mezze platter (mixed appetizer), and you have to try the bastroma, or smoked beef.”
Dish visited late on a Saturday night. It seemed comical that the hostess asked if we had reservations, since the place was near empty. But as the evening went on, it became clear that many people did have reservations and were there for the live entertainment, which started at 10:30 p.m. The place got really lively.
Samy likens Byblos to a Las Vegas show room. It’s definitely an opulent and gorgeously decorated place — there’s nothing like it in Houston. As for the food, it’s high-quality and there are many dishes not to be found anywhere else in Houston, like the bastroma and the batinjan el-rahib, grilled eggplant with lemon and olive oil.
This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2009.