I first heard about Carousel from the chef Doug Rankin (formerly of Pasadena’s Bar Chelou, which he recently revived in Denver). Ten years ago, I was living in a Hollywood apartment and contemplating what to order for a group of friends that would soon be coming over. “Do Carousel’s party for four,” Rankin said. What was Carousel, what was this party? “It’s the best Lebanese restaurant in Hollywood,” he told me. “And they give you a mountain of food.”

Rankin was not wrong. Officially known as the restaurant’s “family dinner,” though it will always be a party to me, Carousel’s group menu is what I default to time after time when I have people of varying dietary predilections come through my home at varying times for varying lengths. As a banker’s box of kebabs, salads, and sides, it requires minimal prep on the part of the host and promises maximum returns: Protein? Check — the party includes a half pound of kebab per person, an assortment of succulent chicken breast, ground beef lula, and rich beef filet. Vegetables? Check — beyond the clamshell of fattoush that requires two hands to handle, the 11 meze include falafel, tabbouleh, and muhammara, a roasted red pepper and walnut dip that definitely counts toward your five-a-day.

Yes, there are carby things and dips in which to dredge them. The party comes with an assortment of deep fried fatayer, Lebanese cheese turnovers, as well as a sheaf of pita that should earn a prize if devoured in one sitting. The dips don’t curdle over time like spinach artichoke or the cheese-laden buffalo chicken variety — you will return to Carousel’s meze long after you said you were done. (In my house, the muhammara and mutabbal tends to disappear first; the labneh follows soon after.)

It’s a spread worthy of the Super Bowl, an event that falls this weekend on Sunday, February 8, and the home watch parties springing up around town. Or of a birthday. Of a graduation. Of any occasion that might be suffixed by “party.” It’s an offering that came naturally to Krikor (KoKo) and Vartouhi (Rose) Tcholakian, who emigrated from Beirut to Los Angeles in 1978 amid Lebanon’s civil war. “In Beirut, my father-in-law had a sandwich shop,” says their daughter-in-law Rosalie Tcholakian, who co-owns Carousel with her husband, Mike, and his parents. “The only thing he knew how to do was food.”

“We’re big on appetizers. We’re big on food on top of food. That’s just how we do it.”

— ROSALIE TCHOLAKIAN

The Tcholakians started making soujouk, a dry-cured, fermented sausage, and basturma, a cured, thinly sliced Prosciutto-like meat, in their Los Angeles apartment and selling it at local Armenian markets — “the predecessors of Super King,” Rosalie says. By 1985, the couple had built up enough capital and credibility to open a restaurant in a strip mall on Hollywood Boulevard. “It was my father-in-law’s idea to offer the family dinner and serve kebabs by the pound,” says Rosalie. “The way we enjoy the cuisine is family style. We’re big on appetizers. We’re big on food on top of food. That’s just how we do it.”

By 1998, the Carousel party was rocking to the degree that it needed an overflow room — a second location in Glendale. For four decades, KoKo manned the counter, taking in orders and calculating tabs “the old school way,” says Rosalie. “He loves mental math.” While he’s now retired from the daily grind, Rose, who turns 80 this year, still oversees the kitchen. “The food we serve is all made from my mother-in-law’s recipes,” says Rosalie. “She doesn’t have formal culinary training but she has the art of cooking — the taste buds, the passion.”

Rule of thumb: if you call either Carousel location and order a family meal or “party for four,” you will get enough food to feed six. Maybe eight. Proteinmaxxers might add on another kebab from the a la carte menu. Spice enthusiasts might swap the standard labneh khaliji, mixed with mint, jalapeño, and tomato, for the jalapeño-laced labneh harra or the garlic-rich labneh zahleh. Those really in the know — and I only learned of this while reporting this story, despite having ordered a Carousel party no less than 20 times — might gain access to the V.I.P. option, which comprises the family dinner plus a yogurt beef lula kebab; Greek salad; sauteed beef filet or liver; soujouk banadoura (soujouk sauteed with tomatoes and onions); and kebbeh addas, bulgur dumplings stuffed with lentils.

“Call and ask for the family dinner or the V.I.P,” says Rosalie. “Whoever is answering the phone will understand what you want.”

Carousel has done family dinners for more than 100. “Not to sound braggy, but we can whip it up very quickly,” says Rosalie. The dips and salads are made fresh every morning; the meat gets marinated and goes on the grill once the call (or app order) comes in. Generally, customers leaving with a party in hand — both hands, they’re required to carry the banker box — end the night happier than when they came in.

“Sometimes people feel it’s not enough food,” says Rosalie. (I’d like to meet these people.) “Sometimes they say it’s too much. I think it’s the perfect amount — everybody ends up satisfied.”