The Hoochee Map Dancers had another dinner last weekend on Sunday, June 28th. This time we met at
Mezza Lebanese Bistro & Bar in the LaVista/Oak Grove area of Decatur, Georgia. I have to mention that this is Susan and my old stomping grounds. We moved from the area about 12 years ago. Susan's former real estate broker, Holly Realty even had an office in the same retail space. She moved there about a year after Johnny Isakson's Northside Realty was sold.
You may recall, the Hoochee Map Dancers is a group of friends and foodies who meet on occasion at restaurants around Atlanta. The restaurants are typically internationally themed. This day it was Lebanese. Other dinners have been Russian, Korean, Chinese, Bulgarian, Moroccan, etc.
We were fortunate on this occasion to have as our guests Barbara and Vince Dooley. The group's ring leader, Jim Macie is a University of Georgia School of Law graduate and former Catholic Priest who baptized the Dooley's son Derek long ago. Jim and his wife Mary Ann have remained friends of the Dooley's all these years.
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| Mezza Lebanese Bistro & Bar |
We were also fortunate to have long time group member and friend Mike Washington with us. Mike was recovering from a recent surgery where he spent several months in the hospital and a similar amount of time recovering.
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| Mike, Susan, Jim, and Mary Ann |
The choice of restaurants was made on the recommendation of Map Dancers member and food writer Jane Garvey. Mezza also met the country requirement as Jim wanted to celebrate Mrs. Dooley's heritage. Barbara was raised in Birmingham, Alabama the granddaughter of immigrants to the U.S. from Lebanon.
The restaurant which is typically closed on Sunday opened especially for our group of 30+ diners. As is standard for our dinners, many of our members bought their own bottles of wine to pair with the dinner.
The meal courses started with pita bread, hummus and baba ghannouge (not shown). That was followed by tabbouleh, fried cauliflower, chicken shawarma, and lamb kebabs. For dessert we had baklawa.
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| Pita Bread |
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| Hummus |
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| Tabbouleh |
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| Fried Cauliflower |
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| Aarayess |
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| Chicken Shawarma |
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| Lamb Kebabs |
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| Baklawa |
Seating was at two long tables. After dinner the Dooleys moved from the first table to the second.
Thanks for reading.
See all the pictures from the dinner
here.
The links below are to a few other Hoochee Map Dancers dinner reports.
