Leaning Levantine

Chefs are highlighting this Middle Eastern cuisine by studying history and regional nuances

There’s no better way to tell a global story than through food. A unifying, universal vessel, food can transport diners to different regions from their restaurant tables, introducing them to the flavors, spices and unique traditions of cultures the world over.

Levantine is a style of cuisine that’s growing in popularity but can easily create confusion. According to the Middle Eastern Institute, a nonprofit think tank and cultural center in Washington, D.C., the Levant region comprises Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Jordan, as well as parts of Egypt and Cyprus. Levantine food influences, however, influences stretch further into Turkey, Greece and the Mediterranean — and even into Armenia and Georgia.

Staple ingredients of Levantine cuisine include chickpeas, tahini, feta, halloumi, eggplant, peppers, zucchini, olives, dates, pomegranates, mint, lemon and yogurt. While not exclusive of animal proteins, Levantine cuisine and its plant-forward ingredients bring a fresh, light and flavorful approach to the many meze or small-plate dishes created from them.

So what’s the difference between Middle Eastern and Levantine cuisine? Questions like these make it difficult to quantify the growing popularity of Levantine food, says Claire Conaghan, Datassential’s associate

// By Lauren Kramer

director of content. The company has been watching the trend closely and notes that the flavors that define Levantine food are becoming more common.

“Levantine food is a huge trend,” Conaghan says, “and chefs are making this style of food, but they aren’t using the terms. For example, they might say it’s a Lebanese-inspired garlic sauce rather than toum, its traditional name.” Toum alone experienced a four-year growth rate of 175%, according to Datassential, making it one of the fastest growing dishes in the category. Shakshuka, an Israeli dish, was up 15%, just ahead of falafel, up 10%, and tahini, up 12%.

Executive Chef Erhan Kostepen describes Levantine food as food from the Ottoman Empire — historically from the palaces and otherwise known as the food of the kings.

“My city, Izmir, is surrounded by a lot of Levantine people; it’s the No. 1 place in Turkey for Levantines,” he says. “Many of them came by boat in the 1800s, bringing goods to Turkey, but ended up staying. Today the cuisine even features dishes influenced by Italy, France and Syria.”

Even specific regions matter when it comes to defining Levantine food. “In the western part of Turkey, we have different food — the cuisine is more about Turkish meze and includes heavier use of olive oil, garlic, fresh greens and tends to be lighter in general. Some people call it Mediterranean; we call it Aegean — a blend of Turkish and Greek foods. Levantine food is just part of that.” Aegean is even in the name of Chef Kostepen’s restaurant Doya, a modern Aegean Meze + Bar restaurant, which opened in Miami last year.

For example, muhammara, a popular condiment or spread in the region, has origins in the Ottoman Empire and is enjoyed heavily throughout the eastern part of Turkey. “It’s an important dish for me,” says Chef Kostepen. “A lot of chefs make it, and there are different recipes. We roast our red peppers on top of charcoal, which is the traditional technique of cooking. After that we blend them carefully. We make a tomato and pepper paste, dry them in woodfired ovens. Our pomegranate molasses is from Turkey, and we add walnuts, garlic and breadcrumbs to this dish, mixing it together with olive oil. Our extra virgin olive oil is from Greece, and all these combinations together make an incredible muhammara.”

Chef Kostepen serves his muhammara with house-baked lavash, a Middle Eastern flatbread baked in a wood-fired oven. “Lavash and muhammara is an amazing combination and makes for a great, cold appetizer,” he says.

Other popular dishes on the Aegean/Levantine-influenced menu include octopus served like sashimi alongside other cold meze like roasted eggplant, as well as a zucchini-spinach pancake similar to what was made by Chef Kostepen’s nanny growing up — a mixture of eggs, feta, zucchini, spinach and scallions that is lightly fried in olive oil. “We serve it hot, but it can be served at room temperature, too,” he says.

Chef Daniel Asher, owner of Ash'Kara, with locations in Denver and Boulder, is passionate about Levantine cuisine. “People love this style of food because the flavor profiles are so vibrant and the food is light, clean and healthy, with notes of toasted spice, citrus, lemon, olive oil and chiles,” he says.

Chef Asher describes hummus and pita as forming the “soul” of his restaurant; the dishes are made with extreme care to showcase Colorado’s local artisans wherever possible. His pita is made using flours organically grown and milled in the state, and his hummus comes from organic Bulgarian chickpeas because “they’re creamier than other varieties,” he says.

“Our diners love our labneh, a Middle Eastern cheese made from strained yogurt,” Chef Asher says. “Ours is made with cows’ and goat milk, cultured lemon juice, olive oil and salt, and hung for 24 hours, and essentially, it’s comfort food from another region of the world.” The labneh is often served with baba ghanoush, pita and hummus.

Combined together, Levantine dishes create interesting conversations tableside, which is an enticing reason for menuing them, but pay close attention to names.

“A lot of dishes in levant, when you chase them across borders into different countries, one ingredient might change and the name of the dish will change, so the geographical boundaries eventually become arbitrary,” says Chef Sayat Oz , owner of the event company Istanbul Modern in San Francisco. “For example, muhammara becomes Ajika [in regions further east of Turkey and Syria] — but both are red pepper dips. The geography dictates the agricultural production, which dictates the precise ingredients. But with small variations, the food ends up being very similar.”

Chefs also need to adapt the cuisines from which they’re borrowing to their own cultural context, Chef Oz says.

“Oftentimes what works in Egypt or southeastern Turkey may not be the best option for Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” he says. “But why not serve your roasted brussels appetizer with muhammara or use a garlic labneh for your fries? The flavors and presentations are very approachable if you know how to adapt them to your clients’ needs and expectations.”

For chefs interested in incorporating Levantine dishes on their menu, Chef Oz recommends starting with rice dishes like ghapama (with pumpkin), dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), and crispy Persian tahdig, as well as eggplant-based dips like baba ghanoush and mutabbal. Then, there are the aforementioned nut-based sauces and spreads like muhammara and legume-based dishes like hummus, falafel and chilled bean salads. Kebabs, roasts, tandoors and yogurt-based dishes also make up this cuisine, he says.

At Mamnoon, a Seattle restaurant with Levantine roots, Executive Chef Nicco Muratore loves introducing diners to halloumi, a traditional Cypriot cheese made from a mixture of milk from goats, sheep and sometimes cows. With its high melting point, halloumi is easily fried or grilled, adding a beautiful texture easily used as a meat substitute. At Mamnoon, halloumi is served pan-seared with herbs as a meze dish. “I like to eat it drizzled with honey as a dessert, but it works well pan-seared with peaches or in a chilled salad with watermelon in the summer,” Chef Muratore says.

His lamb kefta with herbs is another popular Levantine dish; it consists of skewered, ground spring lamb containing a mixture of parsley, cilantro and dill. “We serve it with a yogurt sauce, which can help tone down the richness and fattiness of the lamb,” Chef Muratore says. In the summer, it comes with an apricot salad featuring rehydrated cherries and dried nuts.

Lamb is also featured in his lunch wrap, a traditional Lebanese street food called lahm bi ajeen. House-made flatbread is spread with ground lamb, tomato paste, pepper paste, chiles and spices and baked flat in a hearth oven. Before serving, it is drizzled with pomegranate molasses and topped with fried halloumi. “The molasses gives it a subtle sweetness and acidity, and the halloumi adds richness to this very balanced dish,” Chef Muratore says. The wrap can be rolled to go as a sandwich or cut into four and served on a platter as a shared dish.

Chef Asher sees the popularity of Levantine food only increasing. “Cooking has the power to transform and to impact conversation and dialogue,” he says. “My travels in the Levantine regions have impacted me profoundly, and I love that the regional influences on food keep us telling the stories of where they come from and sharing the legacies of others.”