Saffy’s

Third time’s a charm

My close friend Morrie Grossman, brother of producer Les Grossman of Tropic Thunder fame and himself a celebrated food critic (and who introduced me to Dear John’s), has another brother, Bernie Grossman.  Bernie is a power attorney, a mover, a shaker, a rainmaker.  He is the supreme managing partner of the firm of Weinstein, Epstein and Grossman.  Their main office is on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills tucked between Chanel and Cartier. The firm also has offices in Monte Carlo, Macau and Ouagadougou.  In order to extend their international reach, Bernie decided to open a new satellite office in Dubai.  While in the UAE, Bernie thought that he would be unlikely to find the quality pastrami, bagels and lox and brisket that form the staples of his diet, despite the success of the Abraham Accords.  He decided to enlist yours truly to research the culinary options that would be available.

Bernie is accustomed to the golden and the glittering, Brioni suits, Armani ties and Ferragamo shoes.  I would have to find the cutting edge, the state of the art in Middle Eastern cuisine to satisfy his rarefied palate.  In Los Angeles, the most superficial of all cities, one is constantly bombarded by the insectile buzz regarding the newest, the latest, the au courant in eating establishments.  A recent entry in this derby is Saffy’s.  To quote their website:  “Saffy’s will transport you to another time and place, while still feeling familiar. It’s a Middle Eastern restaurant rooted in traditional flavors and executed using modern techniques.”

As their website brags, Saffy’s is brought to you by the same people behind Bestia and Bavel.  I previously had poor experiences at those venues with difficult reservations, attitudinal service and exorbitant prices, so I arrived with the same gloomy cynicism that I had when I was dragged, against my will, to Mother Wolf (only to be astonished by its distinction).  I was fearful of being served the Macbeth witches salad (eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog) by a smarmy waiter who would bring our meal when and in what order the chef, the sous chef or the bus boy decreed.  To my surprise, however, the owners hit a home run on an 0-2 pitch with Saffy’s.

Saffy’s is located in East Hollywood, nearby to the haunts made famous in the movie Swingers.  It is close to another outstanding restaurant, Lolo, whose head chef is the son of the co-founder of the world’s premier 80s cover band, Goldstein Party of Five.

Saffy’s touts itself as a neighborhood style restaurant.  Unlike much of the hype on the culinary scene, the claim is true.  Rather than being located on a main drag, it is on Fountain Ave. proximate to a mishmash of houses, apartment buildings, small businesses and the fascinating architecture of the Holy Transfiguration Russian Orthodox Church.

An interior bar and a small dining area overlook the kitchen where the food is prepared in a wood fired shawarma rotisserie, a wood burning oven and a hearth for grilling.  Our seating preference was the fully covered outdoor dining area illuminated by strings of mood lights and surrounded by succulent plants.

Since Bernie is a sophisticated and urbane man of the world, a man whom the Parisians would call a true mondain, he selected our degustation menu.  As an appetizer he opted for the hummus tahini with smoked paprika, pine nuts, olive oil and green zhoug, a spicy green chili and cilantro sauce that hails from Yemen.  The hummus is rich and creamy with an undertone of nuttiness from the tahini; the spicy zhoug is a zesty grace note.  The dish is served with thick slices of lightly toasted challah to symbolize the recent normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE.

We sampled two salads.  The gem salad is a mix of little gem lettuce, feta cheese and sliced shallots with anchovy-buttermilk dressing and a touch of olive oil.  Za’atar, a wild herb and spice mix with sumac, roasted sesame seeds and salt is added to give a piquant, Levantine zing.  The grilled onion and endive salad with walnuts, pomegranate, molasses, chervil and orange zest appeals to the more sedate palate.

Next up were two meat skewers.  The lamb kebab is prepared with sweet and spicy peppers, onions, parsley, dry mint and marjoram while the chicken is served with garlic, cumin, cinnamon, green fenugreek and sumac.  The meats were rich and juicy with tantalizing flavor profiles.  They were presented on scimitars similar to those wielded by Auda Abu Tayi, played brilliantly by Anthony Quinn in Lawrence of Arabia.

The only disappointment of the evening was the wood-fire shawarma plate with the classic mixture of lamb and beef served with laffa, the large thin flatbread of Iraqi origin.  Although the dish is beautifully presented with tomato, sumac onions, tahini and salsa-like red ajika, the meat is neither juicy nor flavorful.  The spice profile is a bit pungent and bitter for my Ashkenazi taste.

The vegetable dishes were a marvelous accompaniment to the meat dishes.  Roasted carrots are served with crispy coriander, shallots and cilantro with condiments of harissa jam and labneh.  The roasting process intensifies the flavors of the carrots, making them slightly caramelized on the outside while retaining their tender interior.  The natural sweetness of the carrots contrasts wonderfully with the spiciness of the harissa jam, the tomato based national condiment of Tunisia.  The smooth and creamy texture of the labneh, the yogurt based cheese, cools down the heat of the harissa jam.  Warm shishito peppers are plated with a dollop of mango amba tahini, which tempers the spiciness of the peppers.  The peppers have a thin, delicate skin over a tender, delicious center.

Will Bernie be able to overcome the dietary habits of his heritage and adjust to the stoic fare of the Arab lands?  Being a cynic myself, famously defined by Oscar Wilde as one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, I was skeptical.  Saffy’s taught that what begins in the cynical can end in the epicurean.