After a three-and-a-half-month hiatus from the blog, I can’t help feeling like a kid returning to school after summer vacation. I’m here to regale you with tales of what I did this summer – including a new-place visit to Leila’s Lebanese Kitchen!
It was a weird summer for me – and that’s not even considering COVID! Long story short: I spent nearly six weeks in the throes of an intense health condition that had me weak, fatigued, mostly homebound, and greatly restricted in what I ate. THANK GOD I’ve recovered! But from Fourth of July to mid-August, exploring was mostly out of the question.
I did, however, make one new-place visit during that time: to Leila’s Lebanese Kitchen in Clinton Township. What a bright spot that jaunt was, a beacon of normalcy during a very strange, very discouraging time!
Desperate for a meal more jazzy than chicken-and-rice one afternoon in late July, I realized that lemon rice soup and chicken shawarma pita wrap should be fairly unobjectionable to my delicate constitution. So I excitedly phoned up Leila’s to put in a carryout order.
I’d been wanting to try the Mediterranean restaurant since it’d come onto my radar in the last year. After all of the anticipation, I was not disappointed! Leila’s lemon rice soup was thick with luscious lemony stock, white rice, and hearty chicken pieces, while the chicken shawarma pita was utterly delicious with its crunchy grilled bread, tender chicken, zesty pickles, and wonderfully garlicky sauce (garlic sauce = holder of the key to my heart!).
I’ve visited Leila’s several times after that initial visit. I’m impressed by the friendly staff, reasonable prices, and consistently awesome food. Besides its chicken shawarma pita and lemon rice soup, I’ve enjoyed its chicken shawarma entrée (its flavorful grilled chicken – served with rice pilaf, veggies, and garlic sauce – is so good, it just might make a poultry fanatic out of this red-meat devotee!) and its fattoush salad (addictively fresh and zesty and crunchy; the small-sized version with grilled chicken is so filling, I can’t finish it in one sitting). I even ordered a large container of its garlic sauce to jazz up my convalescence diet (it made otherwise banal dishes pure, swoon-worthy heaven!).
Leila’s menu contains other Lebanese staples besides these: hummus, kibbie, falafel, spinach pie, beef kafta, and crushed lentil soup, to name a few. I’m looking forward to trying the Chicken Ghallaba over Rice on one of my future visits – that is, if I can keep myself from re-ordering the delectable dishes I’ve already sampled. Leila’s is the kind of place where I’m compelled to choose from the same few offerings that are so good, I’m not tempted to stray!
I’m so grateful to be feeling better these days – and to be back here on 100 Places in the D! I have plenty of visits to share from the last two months, each one a testament to the fact that even during these challenging and scary times, we can still find joy and adventure – and do good with our dollars by supporting locally-owned businesses such as the lovely Leila’s!
40777 Garfield Rd.
Clinton Twp., MI 48038
100 Places in the D 