9 best restaurants for Middle Eastern food in the San Gabriel Valley - The San Gabriel Valley Tribune
It is not easy to trace the roots of the Arabic community in Los Angeles, though it would seem fairly certain that our local Middle Eastern populace followed fairly close upon the heels of the Arabic migration into New York City.
According to Zelda Stern’s excellent volume, “The Complete Guide to Ethnic New York,” New York’s Arab community goes back to the 1870s, to the man known as the “Syrian Columbus.” His name was Moses David, and he’s believed to be the first Arab settler in New York and perhaps in the whole United States.
The first real wave of Arab immigration didn’t come until the 1890s, when many Syrians, fleeing the Ottoman Empire, arrived first in New York, and then fanned out across America. After World War II, economic problems in Lebanon brought a second great wave of Syrians and Lebanese. They were followed in due time by a steady trickle of Palestinians, Egyptians, Iraqis, Jordanians, Yemenis and Arabic-speaking Armenians from Lebanon.
While New York’s Arabic community is dominated by Syrians and Lebanese, judging from the restaurants here in Los Angeles (restaurants are always a good barometer of population’s distribution) the community is made up mostly of Lebanese and Armenians.
Though there is a smattering of restaurants representative of the other parts of the Arabic world, the chances are that when you eat in a Middle Eastern restaurant here in Los Angeles, the dishes will be either Lebanese or Armenian; and since the differences between the two styles of cooking may not be all that evident, they may seem, functionally, like the same cuisine.
After the foods of the Far East (the variety of which is, for all due purposes, virtually endless), my favorite culinary region is the Middle East. It’s fun to watch as different dishes pass through the many cultural filters in the region, as stuffed grape leaves, and things made with garbanzo beans, change sometimes subtly, and sometimes radically as they cross national and linguistic borderlines.
Middle Eastern food may be many things, but boring is definitely not one of them. I’ve long believed that falafel would be nature’s most perfect food. But then, at our many Middle Eastern options, there’s hummus as well — which may be even more perfect. And did I mention baba ghanoush? My addiction to Middle Eastern cooking runs deep. And, fortunately, there are many options for deliciously feeding those cravings — especially at these restaurants:
Father Nature Lavash Bistro
17 N. De Lacey Ave., Pasadena; 626-568-9811, https://ift.tt/2Wrf3qX
Lavash is a ubiquity throughout the Middle East, perhaps not as common as pita, but still pretty much everywhere — especially as you get closer to the Caspian Sea, into Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. Like pita, it’s a soft, thin, unleavened flatbread. Traditionally, it’s made in a tandoor like oven.
It is, not surprisingly, the central ingredient in many, if not most of the dishes, at Father Nature Lavash Bistro — a name that certainly comes as a surprise, since we mostly speak of Mother Nature. (There’s a long, and most peculiar essay to be found online wondering whatever became of Father Nature, and suggesting he be brought back. Though from where, the essay seems to have no idea.)
But back to lavash, which has been named to UNESCO’s list of foods on the Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It appears in most of the 40 or so dishes at Father Nature, most notably in the dozen lavash wraps, packed with falafel, roasted eggplant and chicken shawarma.
There are another 10 wraps that come pressed, panini style. You can turn the breakfast omelettes into a pressed lavash wrap as well. At Father Nature, lavash is our friend, and vegetarian dishes abound. Mother Nature would be pleased.
Heidar Baba
1511 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; 626-844-7970, www.heidarbaba.com
The full name is “Heidar Baba House of Halal Persian Kabob.” Which, like the food served there, is something of a mouthful.
At quick glance, the place seems to be a rotisserie chicken and kabob joint, which on one level it certainly is. The chicken (served with hummus, pickles, rice or pita) is a fair match for what’s offered at nearby Zankou — tender, juicy, sweet — but without the garlic sauce that keeps vampires distant.
The kabobs are both basic, and a bit Cal-Iranian — I suspect that mahi mahi kabobs are not that common over there, and that salmon kabobs might be a bit exotic as well. Otherwise, they’re as familiar as old friends — chicken, lamb and beef chunks, along with ground beef kobideh.
I’m a big fan of the salad Olivieh (spelled “olvieh” in this case), a sort of potato salad on steroids that varies a bit from chef to chef, from restaurant to restaurant; it’s the mee krob of Persian cooking. A fine plate of Iranian pickles is a good choice as well. They’re called torshi, and they have a pucker like no other pickled food — neither a dilled cuke nor kimchee have the kick of a good plate of torshi.
Though the deep-fried Persian rice stew called tahdig (a culinary object of desire) isn’t listed on the menu, a wealth of Persian stews are served here — better I suspect for dinner than for lunch, for they do tend to have the sort of solidity that will make for a lethargic afternoon.
There’s koresht, essentially a sauce for the butter-flavored rice called chelo. There’s ghormeh sabzi, a long, slow cooked meat and vegetable stew — gedempte in Eastern European terms — meaning it’s cooked until all the elements have melded into a whole new food; this is warm fusion in action. There’s the elegantly named fesenjoon, which sounds like a character name out of Robin Hood, a dish notable for its flavoring of walnuts and pomegranates.
Hummus (Labs)1
950 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; 626-345-5592, www.hummus-labs.com
The name brings up images of white-coated scientists, working in brightly lit labs to create a new form of hummus, rather than affable chefs preparing what the restaurant refers to as “Lebanese Cuisine…Mediterranean Redefined” in a Colorado Boulevard storefront.
That said, there are new preparations of this much loved dip, posted daily, and running from traditional to admirably creative. Consider: red beet hummus, curry hummus, garlic hummus, cilantro-jalapeño-lime hummus, roasted tomato-habanero hummus, brown butter-sage hummus, roasted red pepper hummus, and more, seasonally adjusted, and changed with the whim of the kitchen led by head chef Joseph Badaro.
This is Disneyland for those with a yen for Middle Eastern dips, with a menu that continues with baba ghanoush, spicy labne, tzatziki, feta cheese dip and once again, what’s right fort the season.
There are, of course, sandwiches on pita bread as well — I would argue that we can live very well on hummus alone, with some chicken kabobs, beef kafta, shawarma and falafel never hurt.
The proteins reappear in the bowls, over rice, green or quinoa. Ditto the platters. The fattoush salad comes with a house-made sumac vinaigrette.
And no, I don’t know why “Labs” is in parentheses, or comes with a superscript “1” after. But it does make this culinary lab seem more like an annex of JPL. Which isn’t very far away.
JDO Mediterranean
6518 Greenleaf Ave., Whittier; 562-693-0181, https://ift.tt/2WP8LR4
Now and then, browsing through a menu, I come upon a dish that’s so far from the cuisine under discussion, that I have to do a double take. Which is what happened when considering JDO in Whittier, where amidst the kabobs, the hummus and the pita preps, I glanced at the dessert section of the menu, where following the requisite baklava, they offer a banana split, an ice cream sundae and something called “banana pops.” Unexpected. But then, this is Southern California. And perhaps after a plate of chicken shawarma, a banana pop just hits the spot.
My daughter regularly mocks me for my affection for Jell-O, which I grew up eating after every meal. I even have a Jell-O cookbook on my shelves. Jell-O parfait is a longtime favorite. But I digress.
There are 13 plates at JDO, moving through all the kabobs and shawarmas we expect — along with a three-skewer combo for those who can’t make up their minds, or are just extra hungry. There’s a veggie plate too, along with mixed shawarma options — nice, for those of us who’ve loved shawarma pretty much forever, and who got shawarma-ized years ago at the gyro stands of New York.
And yes, just for the sake of difference, there’s also a chicken piccata with mushrooms plate. Just like the banana split, it’s an outlier, but a welcome one, for those in need of a single Italian dish amidst all that hummus, tabouli and baba ghanoush. I like the option of an appetizer of hummus with shawarma, served with pita and veggies. Though for most, that’s not an appetizer — it’s a full meal. Especially if it’s followed by a banana pop.
Mediterranean Café
273 Shoppers Lane, Pasadena; 626-793-8844, https://ift.tt/2Ll7Q5q
Mediterranean Grill
105 N. Hill Ave., Pasadena; 626-449-6246, www.mgrillla.com
This is a dynamic duo of Middle Western cafes, both very casual, not far from each other, listed together because, well, they both offer very similar options, all great for takeout — perfect, in fact. The kabobs are many — chicken, beef, lamb, ground beef kefta, shawarma of course.
The falafel and hummus is essential, the baba ghanoush just a tad behind, great for those who consider eggplant to be one of the great gifts of any cuisine. Grape leaves are stuffed, salads include old friends like tabouli, tzatziki and Greek. Pita bread is everywhere, the wraps travel very well.
There are plates and platters at the Grill, which has a slightly larger menu. If you know the cooking of the Middle East, you’ll find no surprises at either café. If you’re a newbie, either is a good choice. Middle Eastern food rarely disappoints. This is home cooking from thousands of miles away.
Sahara Middle Eastern Cuisine
2226 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; 626-795-6900, www.saharapasadena.com
This is, arguably, the most upscale Middle Eastern restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley. Not because it’s elegant — there are no tablecloths, no maître d’, no servers in tuxedos. But it is one of the few Middle Eastern restaurants where, once we no longer have to live on takeout, you might actually want to have a proper sit-down meal, seated at one of the handful of tables, considering the short beer list (including the Lebanese brew called Almaza), and the even shorter wine list.
It’s also, once again arguably, the best Middle Eastern restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley, now that the beloved Wahib in Alhambra is no more. The dinners, reasonably priced, are served with pita (of course), cabbage salad or soup, barbecued tomatoes and bell peppers, rice pilaf, feta cheese, black olives and cucumber. And they’re described in detail on the photo-heavy menu.
We find the lula kabob is “ground lamb and beef mixed with chopped onion and parsley, cooked over mesquite charcoal.” The khash kabob is “ground lamb and beef mixed with garlic, our special recipe, served with antaki bread, cooked over mesquite charcoal.” (Antaki bread is more crispiness than breadiness. It’s like eating a very large cracker, but with pita bread loft. It’s very good.)
The menu lets us know that pretty much everything is made in-house — the falafel of “freshly crushed garbanzo beans and fava beans, mixed with natural spices, served with hummus, tabouli, lettuce, tomato, tahini sauce and pita bread.” There’s a yogurt drink called tahn. There’s both Snapple and Perrier. The food travels very well. But I look forward to eating in-house; I miss the energy of restaurants in my living room with “Ozark” on the tube.
Shawerma Masters
1802 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena; 626-486-2800
With a name like Shawerma Masters, you’d expect half a dozen or more shawarma preparations — salmon shawarma, perhaps, or zucchini shawarma. But not, the menu runs to chicken shawarma and beef shawarma, and no others.
Though that said, the shawarma is very well spiced, properly sliced, and used on plates, in sandwiches and bowls. The rest of the menu makes all the expected stops — all the kabobs, all the dips, all the salads. The falafel is particularly crispy, the pickled turnips are tasty and tangy, a middle sized addiction. (And I guess I should toss in a note about the variant spellings. Middle Eastern dishes are transliterated from the Arabic. Thus, what’s shawarma at one restaurant, is shawarma at another. One of the places on this list spells “hummus” as “hammis.” In some case, we’ve got kabobs, in others kebabs. My poor spell-check weeps.)
Zankou Chicken
1296 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, 626-405-1502; 125 N. Montebello Blvd., Montebello, 323-722-7200, www.zankouchicken.com
The original Zankou still sits at Sunset and Normandie, in the heart of Hollywood, a mini-mall storefront notable for a lack of decor, and for a virtual platoon of rotisseries, stretching from one end of the restaurant to the other, filled with patiently rotating chickens.
Most people take their chicken to-go, which has one major drawback — the marvelous aroma that rises from the just-cooked birds will drive you crazy as you speed home. Only the brave can resist digging in at 65 MPH. The chicken at Zankou has, far as I can tell, been marinated in a wide assortment of herbs and spices, the most notable of which is garlic.
Garlic also comes with every order, as a thick sauce so good that keeping a quart or two around for emergencies seems perfectly reasonable. You never know when you’ll need a hearty scoop of Zankou’s garlic sauce to jump-start your insides.
Most people seem to order the whole chicken, though a half chicken is also available; go for the whole bird, for you may be hungry tomorrow as well, and will be cheered to find a carcass sitting in your fridge. Some people use the pita bread that comes with every order to make a chicken sandwich, which is an okay thing to do, though I don’t want anything to come between me and the chicken.
On the side, you can order some very fine hummus dip, an eggplant dip called mutabbal, a terrific rendition of the great Middle Eastern bulghur wheat and parsley salad called tabouli and a variety of pickled vegetables. This is the sort of food that inspires a true feeding frenzy; make sure you have lots of paper towels at hand, for tearing one of these chickens to bits can create quite a mess.
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
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