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Eggplant parm, baba ghanouj, eggplant curries, eggplant rollatini — it's all so good!

There is much to like here, and it begins with the dips and spreads, a tidy menu of baba ghanouj, muhammara, labneh, balila and hummus, each one basking in its element: the grilled undercurrents of eggplant in the surprisingly silky baba ghanouj; the wild thyme herbaceousness of the tangy labneh; the pomegranate-molasses sheen of the muhammara, so ripe and earthy.

Still, “baba ghanouj” might be my favorite name for the dish, because of what it means: “Baba is the Arabic word for ‘father’ as well as a term of endearment,” Gil Marks writes in the “Encyclopedia of Jewish Food,” while ghanouj or ghanoush means “indulged or pampered.”

In any case, Felder wrote: “I have a nice tip … I used to buy baba ghanouj in the stores. … For years I’ve been trying to make one at home I like.”

It will also give the vegetable some of the characteristic smoky flavor that makes baba ghanouj so good.