What the Falafel opens in Sag Harbor
The Greeky pita from What the Falafel in Sag Harbor. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
This pita bread could start a restaurant empire. On a quiet Sag Harbor side street lined with Colonials from the 1800s, a Lebanese national has made a visual spectacle.
Alidz Arakelian works in a tiny room that used to be a coffee shop, but now smells like fresh bread and lemon tahini. There's a steel oven behind the counter where you can watch pita bread puffing up with golden bubbles as it travels around the circular conveyor belt, in the same way you'd watch a glazed doughnut dance down the ramp at Krispy Kreme.
When it hits peak airiness, Arakelian grabs the pita, layering a colorful spread of herbs and vegetables with intricate precision. It looks almost too pretty to eat, right there at least, since the food is only available for takeout.
What the Falafel?! Yep, that's the name. Arakelian's new shop, What the Falafel, does indeed serve a pretty mean falafel sandwich in the Hamptons. She is Armenian, but grew up in Lebanon and came to Long Island in 2019 after the closure of her family's restaurant, Almayass, in Manhattan. Her business partner owns two What the Falafel locations in Ithaca, and she opened the one in Sag Harbor in May. They plan to expand the concept together as a franchise.
The pillowy pita bread may be the draw, but falafel is really the center of the menu. Alexandrian said she prepares hers in the Lebanese style, which means fewer herbs and more chickpeas than your typical Israeli falafel. "It's more golden," she said. And it's true, they're light yellow on the inside rather than green. Compact, they do not crumble easily, but their centers are hearty and soft.
Alexandrian's shop seems tailor-made for vegans and vegetarians who are looking for a healthy lunch option, or fixings for a picnic at the nearby harbor. All the pita sandwiches and bowls are stacked with fresh veggies like radishes and pickled pink turnips. The Greeky pita ($15) is a highlight, the fluffy bread tucked with yogurt tzatziki sauce and scatters of fresh mint that lighten the flavor of the hearty falafel. Raw onions make the pita pocket pop.
The baked falafel wrap ($16) is an even healthier option. Rather than frying the falafel, the raw chickpea spread is scattered atop a circle of dough and baked into golden unity with the bread. Then it gets a hit of the vegetables, herbs and tahini before it's wrapped up into an easily snackable cylinder. After this, you'll never go back to deli spinach wraps again.
What the Falafel, 51 Division St., Sag Harbor, 631-899-4014, wtfalafel.co. Open Tuesday-Sunday 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Closed Monday.
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
