Zenobia Middle Eastern Cuisine Seriously SYRIAN

A small house is enough room for a thousand friends. – Syrian Proverb

At the crest of the hill on Main Street in Canfield is Zenobia Middle Eastern Cuisine.

This restaurant featuring Middle Eastern cuisine has been a part of the community for seven years under the ownership and careful attention of Izdihar Mansour. We’ve patronized this restaurant with our respective families over the years and have both observed a constant on each visit – a table of Izdihar’s friends and family members sitting near the kitchen. Tonight’s visit was no different, with several generations represented, and Izdihar at the center.

In his blog about a visit to Syria, foodie Tony Tahhan noted that “Syrian hospitality begins with coffee or tea.” Seems this observation has some merit as Rena Mansour, Izdihar’s daughter, approached us with “Let me get you started with some of our house tea.” This hot cinnamon-spiced tea had a slight honey flavor that added a subtle sweetness, making it quite good. It is amazing how a simple cup of tea can seem anything but.

Rena proceeded to deliver an array of their Signature appetizers. First up was a plate of hummos and baba ghannouj. The hummos at Zenobia starts the day before when they soak dried chickpeas overnight. The next day these are cooked, then mashed with lemon, garlic and tahini (sesame paste) into a creamy dip. The base of the baba ghannouj is roasted eggplant mixed with garlic sauce and tahini. Served with soft pita bread, both are tasty staples to any Middle Eastern meal.

Next appeared Fried Potatoes — sliced potatoes deep fried then smothered in fresh garlic and lemon juice. The crispy potatoes were accented nicely with the tanginess and fragrance of the garlic and lemon. Even though we knew we had a lot more food to sample, we finished these addictive spuds rather quickly.

We then split a Fatoush Salad. This comprised mixed greens, diced peppers, onions, tomatoes accented with crisp pita chips. The salad was dressed with house-made pomegranate dressing. The freshness and slight bitterness of the greens contrasted nicely to the sweet and sour notes from the pomegranate dressing.

One of our favorite things at any Middle Eastern restaurant is the Raw Kibbee. At Zenobia, you can choose either beef or lamb. This is made to order and consists of finely ground meat (lamb in our case) mixed with bulgur wheat, mint, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Yes, it is raw meat. Yes, it is delicious. It has subtle flavors of mint and pepper. We recommend ordering it with raw onion to add a little texture. Combine it with some Hummos on a piece of pita and you have a truly wonderful bite.

Next up was Stuffed Grape Leaves. Izhidar takes grape leaves and fills them with ground beef, onions, rice and spices. These are then simmered with lemon juice, water and layered onions until tender and served with a yogurt sauce. On first bite you get the richness of the meat and the tartness of the lemon. This pairs perfectly with the cool yogurt sauce. Delicious.

To give us a good sampling of Zenobia’s entrees, Izhidar presented us with the Syrian Dinner for Two platter. This is often on the specials board. It consists of lamb chops, chunks of chicken and lamb, diced chicken with peppers and onions and Kuffta served over rice pilaf. This is served with a side of house-made banana peppers and garlic sauce. The garlic sauce is made of minced garlic, egg whites and lemon juice. Izhidar orders whole legs of lamb and butchers them herself to ensure that the meat is of the highest quality. When you first taste the meat of this dish, you would swear there were a fair amount of spices to give it such extraordinary flavor. She assured us that the only spice is salt and pepper.

Our first taste was the Kuffta. This dish is made of ground lamb stuffed with onions and parsley, placed on a kabob and grilled. This had nice char and was very flavorful.

Our next bite was the Grilled Lamb and Chicken. Both meats were cooked perfectly. The lamb was a nice medium and very tender. The chicken was juicy and had great grill flavor. These meats had a great depth even though being seasoned only with salt and pepper. The grilled meats paired well with the garlic sauce. This combo platter is a great way to get a sampling of Zenobia’s Middle Eastern Cuisine.

We finished off our meal with a simple but amazing dessert: vanilla ice cream with pistachios and rosewater topped with a warm piece of baklava. Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made up of layers of filo dough filled with chopped nuts and held together and sweetened with honey or simple syrup. The ice cream base wasn’t overly sweet, which went extremely well with the rich pastry.

Zenobia’s menu contains bountiful offerings from appetizers, salads and entrees. Izdihar’s focus on fresh ingredients, prepared daily, yields amazing results.