Terrific Takeout: Manousheh Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
Ziyad Hermez, owner of Manousheh
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Eating in Manhattan can be like taking the "It's a Small World" ride in Disney World for your stomach...our recent feature on Meskerem has been uberpopular. Today, it's time to be pinched. Really. That's what the word Manousheh means, and you say "nah-ish". We'll skip all physical pinches and go straight to the food...this is our inaugural visit to Manousheh.
We began with the Zaatar. It's simple: thyme from Lebanon, sumac and sesame seed mix. Everything we tried was new to us and all really fresh, just made. Open since March 2, 2015, Manousheh is the brainchild of Lebanon native Ziyad Hermez who came to the USA for college in 2002 and is a 2007 George Washington graduate, alma mater of R.J. Sayegh of Greenwich Street Tavern, who was on the baseball team there. You may have noticed who is personally a big fan of where she went to college and if you think she pretty okay at marketing now, you should know she was a tour guide for eight years for her two schools: prep school and college.
Open your mind and pretend you are eating a sesame seed bagel with fewer carbs maybe!
You can dip it in Labneh, traditional yogurt spread, which is delicious and creamy. Also fresh!
Tomato, cucumber, mint and green olives compose the standard vegetable combination that goes into the many choices you can put together. Though avocado is not necessarily traditional, it is pretty popular so it comes to the party here in Zaatar and Avocado: Thyme mix, avocado and veggies. We had ours as a salad to honor our green salad component. You can see we made up for the minus carbs here everywhere else!
We really liked this next one and would encourage Ziyad to add truffle something to it to make it really pop. Meet the Jibneh! This is really a lot like grilled cheese, and who does not like grilled cheese.
Ziyad sources Akkawi cheese from North Palestine and he tells us it melts like mozzarella and tastes like Feta. He likes it even better than mozzarella and it is delicious, but probably no one is going to be able to convince us that there is better cheese than mozzarella (unless it's burrata). We were really happy with this choice and liked it the best.
The sole carnivorous endeavor here is the Lahem Bi Ajine: grass-fed beef, tomato and onion. It appears kind of like a pizza and is served open to garnish it. Traditionally, lemon juice goes on it. We liked our non-lemon section better than the lemon section, but you know who has Connecticut taste, and by the way the beef comes from Halal Pastures in Connecticut we were told. The Aleppo pepper from Syria that's added is a nice touch!
A great thing to know about Manousheh is that everything is made within 15 minutes of being served and that is testament to the freshness you taste in every bite.
There's the pepper you want to be friends with!
It's akin to parm cheese at a pizza place as it is the ruling shaker here.
Ziyad does not fool around with authenticity: even the water is from Lebanon.
This one's called Cocktail. Smashing name! Cheese and thyme and the previously mentioned vegetables will wow your tastebuds.
Finally, please meet the Fatayeh: it starts out as flat bread but becomes a pie/pastry-like calzonish concoction. Spinach is traditional to this dish and tomato, onion, lemon and spices come to the colorful, nutritious party all wrapped up for you.
Manousheh is Terrific Takeout!
