MANTEE IN STUDIO CITY: LEBANESE-ARMENIAN CUISINE WITH A FAMILY PEDIGREE
By Linda Burum
Los Angeles Times
ind21-2009oct21,0,6062600.story
Oct 21 2009
Chef Jonathan Darakjian, whose mother’s family owns renowned Al Mayass
in Beirut, offers lightened-up versions of traditional dishes.
Like a classic storybook bistro, with smart burgundy awnings, lacy
curtains and flower boxes at the windows, Mantee exudes a warm and
welcoming aura. So why is the small dining room so empty?
Because most diners at this diminutive Lebanese-Armenian restaurant
are eating out back in the impossibly romantic leaf-shaded patio with
its lush potted plants massed in every corner under the golden light
of Parisian-style iron street lamps. And the guests? They’re partying
like there’s no tomorrow.
Laughter floats through the air. Tables are spread edge to edge with
mezes and other small plates: the best hummus you’ve ever tasted
scattered with sautéed pine nuts; stuffed grape leaves with garlicky
yogurt sauce; muhammara, the spicy dip of crushed walnuts, pomegranate
and Aleppo pepper; and plates of bubbling feta baked in tomato coulis.
It turns out Mantee has a bit of a pedigree. The proprietor’s family
owns several internationally known eating places in the Near East. The
family’s Beirut restaurant, Al Mayass (they are proud to tell you) made
it onto Food & Wine magazine’s prestigious "Go List" of outstanding
recommended restaurants worldwide.
Childhood talent
This kitchen is headed by young chef Jonathan Darakjian, whose
mother’s family owns Al Mayass. Before opening Mantee he trained
in the kitchens of the Lebanese restaurant. But he’s been cooking
from the age of 7 or 8, according to his mom, Sylvia Gabrielian. "We
would come to breakfast and he had already laid out the table with
the dishes he’d prepared himself."
Since then, Darakjian, 30, has honed his kitchen skills. At Mantee,
his food is a somewhat lightened version of classic dishes. (His
kafta kebab, made with lean, hand-ground Angus beef, may not be greasy
enough for some traditionalists.)
But there’s nothing "lite" about the house namesake dish, mantee. The
tiny agnolotti-like dumplings of Turkish origin (sometimes spelled
manti) are about as addictive as buttered popcorn. Inside the al
dente pasta, nuggets of lemony vegetarian spinach filling or of subtly
seasoned house ground beef make ideal canvases for the creamy sharp
yogurt-garlic sauce that blankets them.
Order the pita bread salad, fattoush, and you will instantly understand
this chef’s philosophy. Pristinely fresh ingredients are tossed to
order in a dressing of just-squeezed lemon juice and a few drops of
extra-virgin olive oil. Instead of commonly seen lettuce, Darakjian
uses purslane, a leafy succulent. Just to be sure every guest’s
taste is satisfied, the salad may be ordered either with toasted or
fried bread.
A meal of mezes
If you can forgo kebabs, a collection of mezes makes a lusty
substantial meal with wide-ranging flavors. Basturma, the Armenian
answer to bresaola or bundnerfleisch, comes thinly sliced on five
baguette rounds, each topped with a sunny-side-up quail egg. Showier
still, the Armenian soujouk sausage gets flamed with brandy-like arak
at your table. If all this seems pretty fancy, the prices are not.
Most shareable mezes average $6. And the ways to amuse your palate
are seemingly endless.
For the dolmades, Asian eggplants are hollowed out and stuffed with
a rice- tomato-garlic mix. Or go for the bamieh, tiny almond-size
okra stewed in an onion-tomato Provencal-style sauce, or the layered
cheese pastry, su borek. Meatier mezes include sautéed filet mignon
slices atop a mound of hummus or simply napped with a meat reduction.
Lunchtime brings juicy kebab sandwiches — moist grilled marinated
chicken breast with thick garlic paste in pita bread or one of the
California-esque panini made with soujouk or Cypriot-style fresh
white cheese.
Desserts aren’t made in-house, and, while that’s understandable, it’s a
pity. This young (and small) kitchen has its hands full concentrating
on the mezes and entrees. Still, though the fancy (and expensive)
purchased little cakes such as key lime white chocolate mousse do add
a festive ending to any meal, they don’t reflect the passion evident
in the rest of this wonderful food.