New Middle Eastern food pop up at Hitchcock Restaurant, The Atlantic

Go back, if you will, to 2014. In the November chef’s issue of that year, we dubbed then-La Bete executive chef Taylor Cheney among Seattle Magazine’s Ones to Watch for what was then emerging as her raison d’etre: Middle Eastern family-style meals celebrating the ancient cuisines of Syria, Turkey, Lebanon and Palestine.

This past March, Cheney made it official with the launch of her pop up series, Yalla Seattle. Since its inception, Yalla has popped up at some of the area’s hottest spots including Marjorie in Seattle and Hitchock Restaurant on Bainbridge Island. At Hitchcock, her focus is solely on traditional savory Arabic breakfast delights like lemony hummus, ful (stewed fava beans), smoky eggplant spreads, and labneh (homemade strained yogurt cheese). You can find those morsels every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Starting Aug. 1, you can find Cheney and her cohort, Turkish chef Pinar Ozhal, popping up at The Atlantic (2519 South Jackson Street, across the street from Standard Brewing), the new Central District restaurant from the owner of Alstadt on Mondays from 4:30 to 10 p.m. The Atlantic series will begin with a month exploring the foods of Palestine then move to Turkey and Syria in September and October, respectively.

Cheney’s dishes are not fusion or Northwest-inspired. These are super traditional preparations and hard to find elsewhere in the Seattle area. We have a serious dearth of good Middle Eastern restaurants, let alone those with micro-regional focus. Below, find the tasty introductory menu for the first series, which focuses on the food of Palestine’s West Bank. Perusing Yalla Seattle’s introductory menu for The Atlantic, which focuses on the cuisine of the West Bank, gives us a peek into what we might expect in a restaurant from this rising star someday.

Mezze

Hummus bi tahina…………chickpea, tahina, lemon, garlic, fried

pinenuts…………………..……………….7

Palestinian Green Olives, Maqdous, house fermented pickles……………12

Mutabal……….…………..…charred eggplant

salad, yogurt, tahina, garlic, lemon, pomegranate……8

Labneh…………………………house made strained yogurt cheese, green olives, dried tomato………..9

Kibbeh Nayyeh……lamb and mint tartar, minced onion, lemon, olive oil

Tabbouleh…….parsley and bulgur salad, mint, scallion, tomato, endive

Wara Eynab…..grape leaves stuffed with rice, tomato, onion and spices, yogurt sauce…………………………………..8

Main Dishes

Musakhan….taboon bread smeared with sumac infused onions, roasted chicken, yogurt sauce and fried pinenuts…………………………..…………16

Mahshi Lift, a specialty of hebron, turnips stuffed with rice, minced lamb and spices and cooked in tamarind sauce……………………………18

Maqloubeh, upside-down chicken and rice dish, cucumber-mint yogurt, Arabic minced tomato and green pepper salad………………….15

Falafel, tahina sauce, house-fermented hot

sauce, beet pickled turnips, saj bread………………….……14

Breads

Saj Bread…………………………………….4

Manoushe, wild thyme and sesame bread………………………………………….6

Desserts

Qatayef, semolina pancakes stuffed with sweet cheese………………………8

Mahallabeya…….rosewater milk pudding, fresh orange, pistachio…7