Regalia

Regalia Cafe & Market
411 West College
Lake Charles, LA
337-764-9831 (Temporary)
Tuesday - Friday 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM $7-$12.50
Saturday 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Located in the former Spain's it looks like this will be another work in progress. The menu here at this point is limited, as is the seating. It leans more to take away than eat in. The Regalia Platter and Shawermah (chicken and beef) are the only full meals the rest has various dips, grape leaves and kibbies in more bulk quantities (8 oz to 32 oz and by the dozen).
The platter consists of 2 fried Kibbies, 4 Grape Leaves, Tabouli, Hummus, Pita bread, Tzatziki, and Shawermah. My first time the tabouli was not ready so they substituted Baba Ghanouge. This is a roasted eggplant dip that in this case was a bit dense and full of eggplant flavor. The kibbie took on that familiar double ended pointy feature, fried grease free and containing meat, onion, and pine nut filling. The grape leaves were rolled tight and possessed a rice and meat mixture. Notably lacking in these filling are the sweet spices that you encounter in Lebanese versions of this. My understanding is that these are Syrian versions different but just as good. The hummus was excellent, the tart tzatziki went well with both the kibbie and grape leaves, the pita thinner than most store brands, the tabouli a bit heavy on the parsley in my opinion and the meat a chicken gyro loaf sliced thin and sauteed. Everything tasted excellent and you leave there full. I took my sister and my particular friend and his artistic wife joined us. We were all in agreement about the quality of the food eaten.
They have not fully stocked the market and are just “dabbling their toes” on the cafe side. I will keep this establishment on my radar and as they progress I will give you reports.


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