Review: Beit Zaytoon in West Hempstead

Hummus, babaganoush, falafel, kebabs. Hummus, babaganoush, falafel, kebabs. Most of Long Island's Middle Eastern menus are an endless loop of familiar dishes. And while all four can be superb, they represent a tiny portion of the repertoire of the region.

At Beit Zaytoon, you will find so much more. Long Island’s only Lebanese restaurant is owned by Elias Ghafary, who from 1991 until 2019 presided over Al Bustan, one of the first restaurants in Manhattan to serve Middle Eastern cuisine in a fine-dining setting. His West Hempstead establishment is much more modest, squeezed into the elbow of a shopping center. But what you’ll find on the plate is no less exquisite.

Your meal starts with a gratis plate of spicy, pickled turnips and small green olives, cracked to better absorb their tangy-bitter brine. (Beit Zaytoon is Arabic for House of Olives.) Don’t miss the bright-tasting hummus, and consider pairing it with another dip, mouhamara, a savory paste of roasted red peppers, walnuts, garlic and cumin. Verdant, sumac-tart tabbouleh is a reminder that this is essentially a parsley salad, not a grain dish. The respect-for-vegetables thread runs right through the meal, from a refined fattoush salad (romaine with shards of fried pita) to mahashi, your choice of squash, grape leaves or cabbage stuffed with lamb and rice.

There’s no bad kebab here, and the falafel approaches the size of baseballs. But you'll also find scores of dishes that may change the way you think about Middle Eastern food. Samboussek jibneh are fried turnovers oozing with melted feta and scallions. Kibbe nayeh is lamb tartare served with scallions, mint and wedges of white onion. There are two mind-blowing stews: Mouloukhia is a leafy green vegetable (jute mallow, to be exact) that, here, is cooked with big chunks of chicken. Bamia combines whole okra and lamb in a tomato sauce. The bounty might be overwhelming if Ghafary did not take such obvious delight in advising patrons on the finer points of Lebanese cuisine.

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