The restaurant is another Lebanese extravaganza from Ara Kalfayan, whose Glendale restaurant Mandaloun set the standard until he left in 2005. Now he's opened this new place, where his first restaurant, also called Phoenicia and later Kix, used to be...

With the same owner, Ara Kalfayan, at its helm, Phoenicia replaces Kalfayan's former Kix cafe and private catering facility with a spacious, fully redecorated interior and dramatic exterior extension, which includes a hookah and cigar smokers' patio...

After several dining excursions to Phoenicia, and following the inevitable early snafus of a restaurant in bloom, I agree with the throngs: this place rocks...