Le Mirage, a family owned restaurant specializing in Mediterranean cruise with touches of Lebanese and Italian on their menu. I found the atmosphere here to be small and cozy. I felt invited and welcome as soon as I opened the door and stepped into the place. The night started off with our waitress introducing herself and offering beverages. This is a BYOB establishment. I hadn’t brought anything for myself but I observed how the wait staff came right over and opened bottles of wine for other diners, showing how very prompt and observant they were.
Being Restaurant week in Worcester Le Mirage offered up their usual menu as well as a “Restaurant Week” limited menu for us to choose from. I went with the Restaurant Week limited menu for $23.13 and was able to pick an appetizer, main entree and a dessert. I was not disappointed with my selections on the night.
I started with an appetizer of Baba ghanoush which is a blend of smoked/roasted eggplant, it did not disappoint, however it can be argued that I never tasted eggplant in this dip which was just fine with me, I wouldn’t change this recipe one bit. The Baba ghanoush was excellent, having had it a few times; I wasn’t expecting it to have such a smooth smoky flavor and texture but was pleasantly surprised with how flavorful it was. It was delicious on the fresh pita bread that it as served with.
The main course I chose for the night was called the Lebanese Platter that consisted of Kibbe, which is a mixture of ground meat and bulgur wheat among other ingredients. Our waitress described it as similar to the American version of meat loaf. I found it to be moist and delicious. It was accompanied by 3 medium sized vegetarian grape leaves, which I found to be nicely filled with rice and spices. The plate also had quite a large portion of rice pilaf which was nothing to write home about, a bit dry but fine as I left most of it on my plate in favor of digging into the kibbe and the grape leaves. The portions were very large and I found I was easily able to bring home leftovers.
For dessert I chose a mango sorbet that was slightly more ice crystalized then I would have liked but had an excellent flavor and was a nice light ending to an otherwise heavy meal.
I would return to Le Mirage in the future and would love to try other options on their menu. –RL
I started the evening with a plate of the hummus and even though I’m not really a hummus fan, I really enjoyed their version. It was very smooth and creamy with soft, thin and fresh pita in a portion that was more than enough for one and probably more suited to two. I ended up eating the entire portion though, it was that good. Overall, an excellent appetizer.
For my main meal, I had their Lebanese Platter, which was a large portion of Kibbe with 3 stuffed grape leaves and a large portion of rice pilaf. Kibbe, which I had never heard of before, is made up from minced meat with Bulgar wheat and spices pressed into a loaf, sort of a Middle Eastern meat loaf. The portion was very large; I ate just about half and took the rest home, and moist and quite delicious with a very strong flavor. Their particular version had a layer of coarser ground meat in the middle, offering a very nice texture and flavor change in the middle of each bite. The grape leaves came stuffed with rice and assorted spices and were also very moist, tender and tasty with just a hint of sweetness. They were an excellent compliment to the kibbe. The rice pilaf was pretty standard and a little dry for my liking, but still with a nice flavor, though nothing special. Overall though, this was an excellent dish that I wouldn’t hesitate to order again. –DL
I chose the fattoush salad, Lebanese platter and pistachio ice cream from Le Mirage’s restaurant week menu. The salad was a good-sized portion, easily a meal in itself. Of all the fattoush salads I’ve had, this was my favorite because in every bite you were guaranteed a toasted pita chip. The pita chip and bite-sized lettuce is really what makes this salad different from any other with lemony dressing.
The Lebanese platter of baked kibbe, grape leaves and rice pilaf was not as pleasing to the eye as it was delicious. The kibbe mixture of hamburger, bulgur wheat and spices was hearty with plenty left over for another meal. Three vegetarian grape leaves were expertly rolled and filled with rice and seasoning, but the leave was slightly tough and mottled-green in appearance. These were complimented nicely with lemon-garlic yogurt sauce that I could eat by the bowl full. The pilaf was not as moist and buttery as I would have liked, but I suppose it was best to save my calories for the pistachio ice cream.
I loved the ice cream – fresh tasting whole pistachio and it was actually the color of pistachio, not neon green that you’d see elsewhere. Being of Lebanese decent and a self proclaimed expert in Middle Eastern food requires me to be more critical than most. Overall, I thought Le Mirage did a great job and would recommend it to others if only for it’s quaint atmosphere, great service and the cost savings of BYOB. –MO
