Restaurant: Carnival Restaurant
Location: 4356 Woodman Ave, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423. (818) 784-3469
Date: May 16, 2023
Cuisine: Lebanese
Rating: Maybe second best Lebanese in the city
I’ve been wanting to try Carnival for a long time.
Pickles!
Tabbouli Salad. Cracked wheat, ripe tomatoes, onions, parsley, with lemon & olive oil. Nice bright tabbouli. Fortuantly not much wheat.
Humos. Ground chickpeas with sesame sauce blended with lemon juice. I can’t eat chickenpeas anymore.
Bab Ghanoug (Mutubal). Grilled eggplant, marinated with lemon juice. Great version of this classic.
Eggplant Salad. Chopped grilled eggplant, tomato, onions, parsley, drizzled with vinegar & olive oil. More tangy than the Baba Ghanoug.
Fool Mudamas. Fava beans prepared with lemon, garlic, olive oil, and served with tanhini.
Balila. Garbanzo beans prepared with lemon, garlic, and olive oil.
Labneh. Homemade Mediterranean yogurt topped with olive oil. Excellent Labneh — love this stuff.
Grape Leaves. Grape leaves stuffed with rice, tomatoes and cooked in lemon juice. Nice, but I actually prefer these cold and tangy. These were warm and more savory.
Makanek. Lebanese sausage sauteed with lemon juice. These have an interesting spice blend characteristic of these kind of Lebanese sausage. I like it a lot.
Combo Plate. Included: Kibbeh (fried rolls of kibbeh, stuffed with meat and nuts), Hot Spinach Cheese Pastry (home style dough stuffed with marinated spinach & lemon juice), Falafel (Ground fava beans, chickpeas, vegetables & spices deep fried). In the middle was a yougurt salad (refreshing home style salad made with chopped cucumber, plain yogurt, olive oil and a touch of dried mint).
French Fries. Looked kinda soggy.
Combo Meat Plate. This included: Chicken Kabab (marinated chicken breast), Beef Kabab (charbroiled filet mignon), Kafta Kabab (charbroiled skewers of ground lamb & beef seasoned with onions & parsley), Chicken Shawarma (tender chicken slowly cooked on the vertical grill — aka the meat-sicle), Lamb Chops (lean and tender lamb cutlets, marinated with special spices), and Shawarma (combo of marinated lamb and beef). My favorites were the Kafta and the Shawarma. I always love the mixed seasoned lamb and beef.
Rice.
Toum (garlic paste) — gotta have this stuff.
Desserts we didn’t try.
Overall, Carnival is really really classic Lebanese excecuted very well. My friend Kareem who took us here is friends with the owner and got special service. The food was very good. It’s considerably better than Sunnin, although very similar in style. Kareem thinks it’s better than Carousel (he thinks more subtle). I’m not sure I agree across the board although the style is a bit different. Probably Carousel is more Armenian Lebanese. I think I like Carousel’s bright lemon forward Mezze flavors a bit better. But the meats may have been better here. You really can’t go wrong with either if you want some great Lebannese.