Sampling Shawarma and Saffron Cake at Zaytoona in So. Burl.
The tightly wrapped version at South Burlington's similarly named new halal restaurant, Zaytoona , was infinitely easier to eat. Folded like a burrito and seared shut, it was neat enough that I wolfed it in the car without spilling a bite. It was also tastier: just vibrantly spiced, succulent chicken and zingy garlic toum sauce, minus the filler vegetables whose sole purpose seems to be to fall onto your lap.
"Some places add lettuce or pickles, but that's not how it's authentically served in the Middle East," Zaytoona chef Mohamad Habahbeh told me.
"That's how they make it full," co-chef Hashem Abdallah added with a laugh.
The two Jordanian-born chefs take a hard line on that authenticity, which they define as following recipes and sourcing ingredients directly from their home region. And they serve dishes exactly as they'd be served at home — down to the 32 spices used to marinate the shawarma and the side of sumac-seasoned French fries that accompany it.
Owner Arwa Dawman opened Zaytoona in early September in the former Heart n Soul by Mark BBQ space in South Burlington's burgeoning city center. The small team — just Habahbeh and Abdallah in the kitchen, occasionally recruiting Dawman to help prep — is serving by-the-book dishes that people eat every day in the Levantine area of the Middle East, including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. The menu is relatively tight for now, with mezze dishes such as fattoush salad, lentil soup, tabbouleh, hummus and baba ghanoush; falafel, lamb shawarma and chicken shawarma sandwiches and bowls; and several desserts and nonalcoholic drinks such as tea, a lemon-mint refresher and pomegranate lemonade. The menu will expand as soon as they find additional staff, Habahbeh said.
Dawman is new to the restaurant world. Originally from Yemen, she moved to Vermont in 1998 and previously worked as a paraeducator. Her goal with Zaytoona is to create a warm, welcoming place for Vermont's growing Middle Eastern community, she said, and to share the region's culture with everyone in the area.
"Having customers tell us we remind them of their food and heritage is a very, very nice thing," Dawman said. "That's exactly why we are doing this."
Sourcing halal meat, which must be slaughtered following humane processes outlined in Islamic dietary law, was initially challenging and remains expensive, Dawman said. But Zaytoona exclusively serves grass-fed, organic, halal-certified meat, now sourced from Australia. The restaurant's halal status has been a draw for many in the Arabic and Muslim communities, she said; they even get travelers from Montréal.
I ordered the chicken shawarma ($15.99) for lunch on a busy weekday. I took a moment to appreciate the renovated restaurant's elegant décor when I picked up my takeout order. Zaytoona means "olive tree" in Arabic, and the space is appropriately accented with green touches and small olive branches on each table.
I was on the go just minutes later, sturdy sandwich in hand. As I ate, I poured the garlicky toum on alternating bites. The mayo-like sauce also made an appealing dip for the hand-cut fries.
When I returned for a late-afternoon chat with Dawman, Habahbeh and Abdallah, the trio insisted I try the saffron cake ($14.99) — with a cup of mint tea ($1.99), as is tradition. The decadent cake wouldn't have been as easy to eat on the go as the shawarma, or to finish; it's big enough to split with a dining companion or two. But the saffron flavor was so deep that I ate more than I'd planned, stealing bites while I scribbled notes.
The saffron cake is made with three types of milk, Abdallah explained, served in saffron-infused milk and topped with vanilla cream and crushed pistachios. Like 95 percent of the menu, it's made in-house.
As we spoke, the two chefs took turns returning to the kitchen to prepare the orders starting to trickle in. I watched a table of off-hours diners eat their plates of falafel — green-tinged thanks to a healthy dose of fresh parsley — and lamb shawarma drizzled with tahini sauce and pomegranate molasses. Next time, I'll sit and join them.
