Sitti

When Greg Hatem and the Saleh family announced that they were teaming up to open a Lebanese restaurant, you just knew it was going to be something special. Hatem's reputation as a restaurateur, after all, is surpassed only by his record as a commercial real estate developer. He has given downtown Raleigh a diverse assortment of dining options -- among them The Duck & Dumpling, The Pit and The Raleigh Times Bar -- while restoring a number of beautiful old buildings in the process. And it's no exaggeration to say that the Salehs brought Middle Eastern cuisine to the Triangle. The family opened the first Neomonde in 1977, and the restaurant remains the local benchmark for Middle Eastern deli fare to this day. (Full review)