A group of my Dames (members of Les Dames d’Escoffier, LDNY) friends decided to meet in Park Slope for Lebanese cuisine served in an elegant yet relaxed atmosphere. Our Lebanese Dame walked us through all the offerings, sharing stories about how most of Samaya Boueri Ziade’s dishes tasted like home.

As is typical, we started with a mezze — always my favorite part of any Mediterranean meal, this was no different. We each received two orders of their freshly baked pita bread ($4), served one per guest with our dips. All were yummy – including the traditional silky hummus ($6) topped with chickpeas and EVOO, their charred eggplant baba ghannouj ($13) and the table favorite, their charred red pepper, walnut and pomegranate muhammara ($14), flavored with molasses.

We added the oh-so-garlicky toum ($10)—whipped aioli on a baguette, topped with pickled wild zaatar ($10), which was a bit too sharp for me. I would make it at home using roasted garlic instead of raw.

To accompany our entrees, we added the unusually delicious hindbeh dandelion greens topped with crispy onions ($15). With those, we shared a Lebanese white, specifically the Merwah 2022, Château Ksara, Douma, Lebanon, indigenous Merwah ($75), from Lebanon’s oldest winery.

After the mezze, we added two entrees: a traditional lamb dish and a fish dish, since one of our party didn’t eat lamb. That Dorade fillet (sayadiyeh) came topped with crispy onions ($40) and, my favorite, the lamb shank topping: spiced rice, chestnuts, and a nut mix, all finished with pomegranate jus ($49). With that, we shared a red from Château Ksara—specifically, Le Prieuré, one of the winery’s oldest Rhône Valley blends ($78).

Of course, we couldn’t miss dessert. We tried everything on the menu — their meghle, with spiced rice flour, shredded coconut, mixed nuts, and raisins ($14), their crunchy tamriyeh phyllo, sweet semolina ($15) and washed that down with the pomegranate sorbet topped with pomegranate molasses and pomegranate seeds ($9).

I highly recommend a trip to ParkSlope for a meal at Sawa. It’s especially convenient if you’re heading to the Barclay Center.

sawa
Park Slope
75 5th ave
brooklyn, ny 11217
(917) 400-6182
 sawa.nyc