TWO NEW RESTAURANTS HELP DEFINE MODERN LEBANESE COOKING
Two Levantine restaurants have recently opened in Brooklyn that have modernized traditional dishes. Both have all the accoutrements of the modern bistro, including sleek designs, creative cocktails, carefully constructed wine lists, and a limited menu that pushes boundaries.
Here, we compare dishes between Sawa in Park Slope (75 Fifth Avenue, at Prospect Place), which opened earlier this month, and characterizes itself as a modern Lebanese restaurant; and Huda, which debuted in Williamsburg (312 Leonard Street, at Conselyea Street) in November, with a menu that displays Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian influences.
The Restaurants
Sawa
The double storefront at 45-seat Sawa features blond woods with a teal and off-white design. Halfway into the front room lies a beehive oven where a cook turns out fresh breads like clockwork. Past the oven lies an open kitchen with a flaming wood hearth, and opposite that through an archway, a second dining room.
The owners are Samaya Boueri Ziade, and her architect brother, George Boueri, with Soroosh Golbabae the chef, born in Iran and veteran of Gramercy Tavern, Sofreh, and Eyval. The menu is divided into four categories: dips, mezzes, entrees, and sweets, with a total of over 20 dishes.
Huda
Opened in November, the 60-seat Huda is situated in the former home of the deli, Edith’s Eatery. The front is ivory with tinted windows and potted outdoor plants. The main dining room is also the barroom — with a beautiful mottled-brown marble bar — and table seating occupies two-thirds of a room with nice wall treatments and the usual complicated lighting scheme. Down a long hallway is a more intimate dining room.
The owner is Syrian-born Gehad Hadidi, who has owned Midtown’s 50-year-old French bistro La Bonne Soupe since 2019; his chef is Omneyah Hassan, of Egyptian descent, formerly at Celestine and Pasquale Jones. The menu offers around 15 dishes with no divisions, along with three desserts.
The Dishes
Dish one: Hummus
Sawa serves up a compact hummus ($12) thicker than most, and it comes with a puffy pita hot out of the oven. But for an additional $5, it can be sluiced with a dense braise of beef cheeks and raisins that has resolved itself into a sweet chunky pudding. It goes magnificently with the hummus.
Huda offers grilled squid and hummus ($23), with the latter pale and almost soupy. I didn’t love the combination of the two.
The winner: Sawa
Dish two: Batata hara
Huda’s batata hara ($14), deep fried potatoes something like shredded wheat, comes with harissa and herbed labne, and you’ve never quite had potatoes like this before: moist but not oily, and richly flavorful.
Sawa’s red, skin-on potatoes of its batata hara ($12) are flecked with garlic and salt and accompanied by the white garlic toum sauce, so powerful it leaves a burn on the lips and found us reaching for a breath mint. Keep the extra sauce; it will come in handy later.
The winner: Huda
Dish three: Kibbeh nayeh
Kibbeh nayeh is the raw form of the ground-meat dish kibbeh, which is ubiquitous in Lebanon and comes in several cooked permutations, as well, including a square casserole and submarine-shaped baked fritters. At Sawa ($22), the lamb is mixed with bulgur and sumac, and served with pita chips. It’s the best version of raw kibbeh in the city that I know of.
Huda ($27) uses raw ground beef instead of lamb, bright red in color, which it mixes with homemade harissa and bulgur: but both are nearly undetectable, and the kibbeh ends up tasting like French steak tartare — which is not unexpected given the restaurant’s Au Bonne Soupe connection.
The winner: Sawa
Dish four: Fish
Which restaurant wins this set point may depend on whether you like your fish whole, head and all, or whether you prefer it filleted. Sawa’s Beiruti samka harra, made with daurade ($41), comes napped with an agreeable tomato-pepper stew, adding tart and sweet notes, while the sliced peppers on top add heat. Yes, some effort is required to pull it apart, but the cheek flesh itself is worth it.
The msakhan ($38), whole boned branzino at Huda, seasoned with sumac and served with too little tahini, rests upon fresh flatbread and is splayed for easy eating, though the fish-and-bread combo — what amounts to an open-face sandwich — requires sawing with a sharp knife. The fish comes across more like a pot pie than a fresh fish. Still, it’s quite good.
The winner: Sawa
Conclusion
The competition was fierce: My preference tips in favor of Sawa, noting the procession of warm pitas, the superior kibbeh nayeh, and the dedication to Lebanese culinary principles. That shouldn’t stop you from trying Huda, however, which has many memorable features of its own.