I woke up Saturday morning from a dream that I had the night before about having lunch with my close and long time friends, Chris Powell-Moss and Cyndi Beaver.  I don't remember anything about the dream except that we were driving around town and all I could say was, "I'm HUNGRY!!!"

Our friendships started about twenty four years ago, when I went to Long Beach City College to study accounting.  I really had all intentions of being a straight A student in my accounting and bookkeeping classes (and eventually become a professional and successful CPA - perhaps even open my own firm), but I was distracted by this beautiful young lady sitting near the front of the classroom during my Accounting 101 class.  She was wearing a checkered white and green (or gray) sweater that looked a little too big for her (it was kind of cute..).  If I remember correctly, she was making googly eyes at me so I gathered enough courage to start talking to her.  That was the start of my friendship with Cyndi.

Cyndi and I found out that we also had another class together - Beginning Bookkeeping, and sat next to each other towards the back of the room.  I was trying to concentrate but Cyndi kept talking to me and making me laugh...  Anyway, another girl sitting in front of us wouldn't mind her own business and wanted desperately to join in our conversation... This was Chris... 

Okay, that's probably not exactly what happened but barring specifics, our friendship really did start during our accounting and bookkeeping classes.

Chris and I have decided that each month, we would go visit and eat at a different restaurant to experience various types of cuisines.  Last month, it was Thai food at Sedthee Thai Restaurant located in Glendale.  This Saturday, Cyndi joined us for lunch at Raffi's Place Restaurant, ironically also located in Glendale.

Raffi's Place is a quaint restaurant that serves Middle Eastern food (more specifically, Lebanese/Armenian).  Our dining experience was outdoors under a green and white canopy.  Immediately after we were seated, I was transported to the Middle East with a whiff of the various spices indigenous to that area of the world.  We were greeted by our waiter who immediately presented us with menus followed by a delivery of a basket full of flatbread and a plate of garnish (fresh lemon basil, quartered sweet onion, and three large red raddishes).

The three of us then decided to order appetizers to share so we ordered tabule which is chopped parsley leaves mixed with small diced tomatoes and bulgar wheat, and the grilled eggplant with tomato sauce and garlic.  They were delicious!  The tabule was tangy and the eggplant was a little sweet from the tomato sauce.  The two ladies had ice tea and I had hot Persian tea.  If' you've never had Persian tea before, I would highly recommend trying it.  It has a clean flavor without any bitterness that you would get from other types, especially because of the process of preparing the tea.  There's a whole art to this process to make sure that the color consistency is correct.  This is why Persian tea is usually always served in see through glass cups.

For our main dishes, Chris ordered the beef shish kabob made with marinated and charbroiled chunks of filet mignon.  Cyndi ordered the chicken soltani which included a grilled chicken breast called Chicken Barg, and ground chicken kabob mixed with special spices (called Koobideh).  I ordered the lamb kabob made with specially marinated lamb tenders and grilled to medium well.  All of the meat dishes also included broiled tomatoes and peppers, and a very healthy heaping of basmati rice.  There were plenty of food and we all divided the different types of meats between the three of us so that we could all sample the various flavors.  I thought that everything was nicely and equally flavored but Chris and Cyndi thought that the Koobideh might have been just a little salty for their taste.

After the main dish, we decided to share a dessert so we ordered the chilled orange ice.  What a perfect ending to a great meal!  The best part of all was being able to share this meal with two of my closest and dear friends.  I loved the atmosphere, the company, the service, and the exotic experience of the food.  What more could an average Joe ask for?!

Before we left I ordered some "To Go" food for my wife's dinner.  Chris mentioned to the waiter that I was out with my two blonde girlfriends but needed to order dinner for my wife at home.  The waiter said, "Yeah, when I get older, I want to be just like him..."  We all laughed...  and then I realized, "...he just called me old!"

Raffi's Place is located on 211 East Broadway in Glendale.  It may be a little out of the way for some but it's a drive worth taking.