“I experienced time to imagine what to do, to be straightforward,” he says. Initial, he launched a serious estate company, Touma Palm Suites, featuring furnished apartments for individuals trying to get professional medical treatment in the Boston spot. But he was hungry.
“I was making an attempt all the things. I had to travel to Rhode Island. I stated, ‘Why not open a Mediterranean cafe?’” he suggests gamely.
And thus commenced Fattoush, a Mediterranean storefront on the East Arlington-North Cambridge border, a block from Route 16.
Just 1 problem: “I have zero knowledge in opening eating places,” he suggests. “I was out of my league.”
So he introduced on a chef, Jack Seghman, whose meals he’d attempted and liked at Café Yafa in Natick.
“My secret is I am Armenian, Lebanese, and Syrian,” Seghman states, laughing.
The restaurant’s opening was delayed for a calendar year because of the pandemic but ultimately debuted on Jan. 3, and it is by now making waves among locals hungry to improve up their takeout program. The menu is relatively priced, with generous parts and tons of vegan choices, as well.
Juicy hen kababs are Seghman’s favorite dish, but I appreciate the spinach and meat pies ($2.75). The spinach is fresh new, with a hint of lemon — not pulverized mush — with a comfortable, golden dough folded like origami. Peppery, open up-faced meat pies have notes of cinnamon. Swiped through a tub of Fattoush’s sharp, additional-pungent creamy garlic sauce, it’s the ideal hand-held snack.
Baked pita chips ($3.99) are gorgeously crisp, dusted with floor sumac that will get all over your clothing, so be forewarned. I fashioned my personal nachos by drenching them in loubye bzeit ($6.49), extra fat environmentally friendly beans stewed in a garlicky, pasty tomato sauce. Portions are generous I’m nonetheless functioning my way by way of the container two days later on. Exact with mjadara ($6.49), pureed inexperienced lentils with dots of rice and caramelized onion. It preferences practically like balanced cake batter. (I stated nearly.) Sumac-laced chicken shawarma ($17.99) is another hit, on a bed of brothy rice pilaf.
My 1 beef, practically, is with the lahmajoun ($4.99), a round, open up-confronted Armenian-type pizza topped with minced lamb, beef, and crushed tomato. This model was just a contact also brittle, with the tomato pretty much cooked off. I compensated by pouring far more of that luscious loubye bzeit on major.
The web page can be gradual and glitchy, so simply call forward to buy. The staff is welcoming right here, conversing to an actual human is a pleasure.
142 Massachusetts Ave., Arlington, 781-777-1528, www.fattoushmass.com
Kara Baskin can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @kcbaskin.
