DINING OUT:Arde's Bistro is healthy, delicious

On Burbank's far Western border sits a Middle Eastern restaurant that serves up authentic Lebanese and Mediterranean dishes in a space about the size of my living room.

Arde's Bistro, tucked in next to the popular Mo's restaurant, is yet another charming independent labor-of-love Burbank eatery. It has been fascinating for me to see how many of these jewels exist in our town, places where owner-operators put their heart and soul into their cooking and create excellent home-cooked delicacies made with fresh ingredients and care.

Arde's is busiest at lunch during the week, so it's best to come early or call your order in ahead. Between the inside and the sidewalk, there is seating for only about 25. The pleasing dining area of chili-pepper-and-yellow walls is accented with hand-painted tiles on the tables and personalized celebrity head shots displayed on the walls around the room. The lunch menu lists about 15 wraps made with fresh lavash flatbread. Garlic chicken, lamb, turkey with spinach and cheese are among the tasty choices.

I had the tuna-salad wrap which, though not very Lebanese, was really delicious. Fresh tuna was blended into a light salad and wrapped with lettuce, tomato and onion.

The menu also features a nice selection of salads including the bistro salad, a robust garden salad topped with feta cheese and walnuts. The salads are particularly good with the house dressing. It's a light blend of lemon juice, olive oil, crushed mint, garlic and other spices. Yum!

Of course, Mediterranean cuisine means specialties like hummus, stuffed grape leaves, baba ghanouj and Arde's has them all, and much more. Their hummus — a blended dip of chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic and tahini (a sesame-seed paste) — is excellent. The creamy beige mixture is terrific spread on soft pita bread.

Baba ghanouj, which sounds to me like a character from a Dr. Seuss book, is actually a roasted eggplant purée made with tahini, garlic, yogurt and lemon juice. It's stronger in flavor than the hummus and a bit of an acquired taste.

The stuffed grape leaves I can recommend unequivocally. A delicious concoction of ground lamb, rice, tomato and spices rolled up in a soft grape leaf. They're firm and full of flavor. I can't resist dipping them into the hummus.