The mezze platter at Charbel Hayek’s debut restaurant at the Kimpton La Peer Hotel in West Hollywood is the swiftest, most celebratory introduction to the restaurant’s elegant Lebanese cooking. Give the black-lacquered tray a spin, turntable-style, to reach hummus in two variations; baba ghanouj jeweled with pomegranate seeds; muhammara, ruddy with roasted red pepper and walnuts; labneh, its creaminess offset with minced makdous (pickled eggplant); falafel, dark as rich soil on the outside, spring green with herbs on the inside; and cubes of fried potatoes radiating garlicky heat. The feast, which includes hot-from-the-oven Arabic bread and costs $130, presumably is designed for groups to kick off their meal, but I’ve seen couples split it as dinner, with plenty of leftovers for the next day’s lunch. It’s a viable strategy, to which I might only add a clever roast chicken entree. Whipped toum (garlic sauce) and tiny pickles flank the bird. They’re classic flavors in a Lebanese chicken shawarma, deconstructed here for universal appeal — an implied directive in a hotel restaurant — while still shouting out Hayek’s home country. — B.A.

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