Touring Little Arabia is a delicious way to spend a day.
But what and where is Little Arabia? Most people go blank when I mention it, because they never dreamed that such a place exists just outside Los Angeles.
But there it is, a strip that runs from Anaheim to the edge of Garden Grove packed with Middle Eastern restaurants, cafes, markets, bakeries, hookah lounges and shops selling Islamic goods and clothing. To learn more about it, go to www.littlearabiadistrict.com.
You can discover the area on your own by following the itinerary of a tour I took that was led by Faye and Yakir Levy for Melissa's Produce.
The Levys are well known experts in the Middle East who have lived and traveled in the region. Yakir Levy (above) is Israeli, well versed in history and politics. Faye Levy, a prolific food researcher, is the author of "Feast from the Mideast" among many other cookbooks.
The Levys distilled Little Arabia into the following four food-centered stops.
1. Fresh Choice Marketplace. This halal market attracts people from a wide range of cultures, because it stocks ingredients they need, many of them hard to locate elsewhere. Here are a few:
Ulker Labneh is the creamiest, richest, most mellow labneh that I have ever tasted. It's imported from Turkey. Yakir Levy is holding it in the photo above.
Kunafa King, a baked goods shop along one wall, is named for a syrup-soaked cheese-based dessert topped with shredded pastry (above). This dessert is spelled in several ways, including knafeh, as in Knafeh Cafe, another shop in Little Arabia.
Kunafa King also has baklava and other pastries and a large stock of Loqhum brand Turkish delight, imported from Istanbul (on the lower shelf in the photo). Flavors include coffee, orange with hazelnuts, pomegranate and a chocolate-filled version coated with ground pistachios.
Freshly baked breads come from a bakery by the market's main entrance. This one is coated with za'atar.
The bakery also sells pita, long flat sangak breads (above), date-filled breads, sesame-coated Jerusalem bagels and other breads popular in the Middle East.
The large spice section includes everything from ground chipotle chiles to spices for Indian cooking and seasonings for Middle Eastern dishes such as Saudi Arabian kabsa. Some are labeled in three languages, English, Spanish and Arabic.
Fresh Choice Marketplace, 9922 Katella Ave., Garden Grove, Calif. 92804. (714) 539-9999.
2. Forn Al Hara. Famous for flatbreads (manaeesh), this bakery/restaurant is a pleasant place for a casual, inexpensive lunch.
Owner Muhammad Alam (above) will swamp you with hospitality and insist that you try more flatbreads than you can possibly eat. At least that is what happened on the Levys' tour.
The toppings included cheeses, meats and vegetables. The za'atar that Alam spreads on some of them is house-made. It's so fragrant you will want to buy that as well as the breads, which come in large and mini sizes.
In addition to the flatbreads, there are wraps, including one with chicken and cheese. A glance at the menu on the wall shows many more choices, including pizza.
Forn Al Hara also offers baklava and other pastries. Here, Alam brings knafeh to the tour group.
Forn Al Hara, 512 S. Brookhurst St., Anaheim, Calif. 92804. (714) 758-3777.
3. Olive Tree Restaurant. Located across the parking lot from Forn Al Hara, Olive Tree is like an encyclopedia of Middle Eastern food. The menu for the tour group included Lebanese, Palestinian and Egyptian food. On other occasions I've eaten Jordanian and Saudi Arabian dishes there.
Shown with this spectacular spread is Olive Tree's original owner, Yusuf Abdo. His son Alan Abdo now owns the restaurant.
The biggest seller at Olive Tree is ouzi, lamb shanks with almonds and spiced rice. It takes 2,500 pounds of lamb shanks a week to fill the demand, Alan Abdo said. The rice that accompanies it changes every day.
This spectacular dish is Egyptian koshari, a combination of pasta, lentils and rice topped with fried onions and served with tomato sauce. A recipe for koshari is in Faye Levy's "Feast from the Mideast."
Koubeh lebeniyeh is beef and bulgur dumplings that are fried, then cooked in yogurt sauce.
The tour group also ate falafel, tabbouleh ((above), grilled eggplant with tahini, hummus and stuffed grape leaves, accompanied by yogurt sauce and pita bread.
For an even more generous feast, go to Olive Tree during Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, which starts May 6. Each night a sumptuous buffet ends the daily fast. The price is $30, and reservations are essential. Throughout Ramadan the restaurant will be closed during the day.
Olive Tree Restaurant, 518 S Brookhurst St., Anaheim, Calif. 92804. (714) 535-2878.
4. Victory Sweets. The tour ended with dessert at this shop, where owner Mohammad Awad makes all the dough himself, including finely shredded kadaif (above).
His sweets are so highly rated that Olive Tree Restaurant uses them for catering jobs. By chance, Yusuf Abdo of Olive Tree dropped in to pick up an order while the tour group was admiring the treats on display.
Awad offers five types of knafeh (above).
He explained that knafeh is sometimes tucked into a bun for a sandwich (above).
These rolls are bourma, made with kadaif dough rolled around a nut filling.
There is baklava too and cookies and other sweets, some of them packed in the gift box that Awad is holding. He'll have special sweets during Ramadan.
By now the tour participants had eaten so much that dessert would have been hard to handle, so Awad hand-packed a box of samples for each to take home, a sweet gesture to end the day.
Victory Sweets, 9057 Cerritos Ave., Anaheim, Calif. 92804. (714) 229-0800.
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