Went to lunch at the Lebanese place today

[myboynoah]

I visit a local Lebanese place about once a week for lunch. The quality is much, much better than the standard fair found at other shawarma shops here, which are a dime a dozen. Happily, the prices have yet to match the quality.

The owner is a very outgoing guy and greets me as a good friend each time I show up. I chalk it up to his being a very good salesman. However, he does take time to talk, about his family, his former work as an investment banker, his dream of opening franchises in Miami and New York.

Today, I ventured to ask his thoughts on the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, since I hadn't visited him since hostilities broke out. He said that his wife and child had gone to Lebanon for the summer and had been evacuated by the French the day after Israel started dropping bombs. He also lamented the damage being done to the infrastructure. He then expressed his fear that the Israelis wouldn't go far enough to take care of the problem.

I realize this is anecdotal and that his views are driven by his Lebanese Christian heritage, but I don't think he is too far off in opining that a disarmed Hezbollah along with a strengthen Lebanese army are keys to real stability in the country.

As for the food, it was great, as always. He kindly directed me away from the falafel, which he said were not fresh.

[myboynoah]

I'm sorry, this was supposed to go under Politics.

[RockyBalboa]

Originally Posted by myboynoah

I visit a local Lebanese place about once a week for lunch. The quality is much, much better than the standard fair found at other shawarma shops here, which are a dime a dozen. Happily, the prices have yet to match the quality.

The owner is a very outgoing guy and greets me as a good friend each time I show up. I chalk it up to his being a very good salesman. However, he does take time to talk, about his family, his former work as an investment banker, his dream of opening franchises in Miami and New York.

Today, I ventured to ask his thoughts on the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, since I hadn't visited him since hostilities broke out. He said that his wife and child had gone to Lebanon for the summer and had been evacuated by the French the day after Israel started dropping bombs. He also lamented the damage being done to the infrastructure. He then expressed his fear that the Israelis wouldn't go far enough to take care of the problem.

I realize this is anecdotal and that his views are driven by his Lebanese Christian heritage, but I don't think he is too far off in opining that a disarmed Hezbollah along with a strengthen Lebanese army are keys to real stability in the country.

As for the food, it was great, as always. He kindly directed me away from the falafel, which he said were not fresh.

Did you eat at Cedars of Lebanon? It's a very good place in downtown SLC.

[ute4ever]

Originally Posted by RockyBalboa

Did you eat at Cedars of Lebanon? It's a very good place in downtown SLC.

Noah lives in France. However I have been to Cedars, and fully endorse your statement.

[UtahDan]

Originally Posted by myboynoah

I visit a local Lebanese place about once a week for lunch. The quality is much, much better than the standard fair found at other shawarma shops here, which are a dime a dozen. Happily, the prices have yet to match the quality.

The owner is a very outgoing guy and greets me as a good friend each time I show up. I chalk it up to his being a very good salesman. However, he does take time to talk, about his family, his former work as an investment banker, his dream of opening franchises in Miami and New York.

Today, I ventured to ask his thoughts on the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, since I hadn't visited him since hostilities broke out. He said that his wife and child had gone to Lebanon for the summer and had been evacuated by the French the day after Israel started dropping bombs. He also lamented the damage being done to the infrastructure. He then expressed his fear that the Israelis wouldn't go far enough to take care of the problem.

I realize this is anecdotal and that his views are driven by his Lebanese Christian heritage, but I don't think he is too far off in opining that a disarmed Hezbollah along with a strengthen Lebanese army are keys to real stability in the country.

As for the food, it was great, as always. He kindly directed me away from the falafel, which he said were not fresh.

I LOVE Lebanese food. Don't live near anywhere I can get it at the moment however (would need to drive an hour).

I too think that the bigger fear is that Israel pays the political price (with the Lebanese people and Muslim world) for this war, and two years from now Hezbollah is still sitting on the border with thousands of rockets. That is the worst of all worlds.

I think the unpleasant task of disarming them, and yes this will certainly mean the loss of more innocent life, is the only acceptable outcome for Israel at this point. This really is a case of almost having to kill the patient to root out the cancer, but it would be like going through eight hours of surgery and then leaving the tumor intact to call it off now.

People may be right to say that you can't kill the cancer without killing the patient in this case. Let us all hope, for the sake of the Lebanese, that this is not true because I think that Israel will err on the side of going too far rather than not far enough to try to alleviate the risk of continued and ongoing attacks by Hezbollah.