Showing posts with label Table 12. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Table 12. Show all posts

Monday, March 10, 2014

Au Za'atar officially opens today



We noted last Tuesday that Tarik Fallous, the owner of Table 12, had changed concepts, converting the cafe-bistro on Avenue A and East 12th Street into Au Za'atar.

Here's the restaurant's description via Facebook:

Au Za'atar is a Middle Eastern restaurant with a French twist. Our menu offers everything from Lebanon's national dish (Kibbe Kras) to classical Parisian fare with influences spreading from the Arabian Peninsula to the Mediterranean Sea.

At the time of our post, the restaurant was still in soft-opening mode … and the menu we posted from the Au Za'atar website hadn't been finalized. (You can find the menus now at the website.)

According to a restaurant representative, there was an official soft opening at Au Za'atar this past weekend… and today is the official opening day… they also supplied us with photos of the interior, which was designed by local resident Frank Linkoff, who's an artist and filmmaker/producer.







Fork in the Road had a preview Friday:

"I always looked for a place where we could have these kinds of dishes the same way we had them back home," Fallous says. He craved lamb shank and lamb chops sprinkled with za'atar and roasted, tabbouleh at every meal, hummus and fresh babaghanoush, and escargot cooked with herbs and white wine (there is a lot of French influence in the culinary traditions of these countries, Fallous explains).

Au Za'atar offers all of those dishes, divided into small mezze plates and larger platters, as well as a number of daily specials, spicy stuffed fish, different kinds of kebabs, and kebbe kras, a blend of bulgur wheat and beef that is Lebanon's national dish. "We're trying to make it a place where people will come to have a meal once or twice a week," he says.

-----

Meanwhile, aside from the concept change at Table 12, Kool Bloo, the fast-food takeout specialist that shared the back of the space, has also disappeared in recent weeks with the renovation…

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

[Updated] On Avenue A, Table 12 is now Au Za’atar



To be honest, we don't know exactly when the changeover occurred here on Avenue A at East 12th Street … a few alert readers pointed this out to us just yesterday … (The first Yelp review is from Sunday.)

In any event, Table 12, the former 24-hour cafe/bistro that served sandwiches, wraps, egg dishes, etc., has been turned over to Au Za'atar. Here's the restaurant's description via Facebook:

Au Za'atar is a Middle Eastern restaurant with a French twist. Our menu offers everything from Lebanon's national dish (Kibbe Kras) to classical Parisian fare with influences spreading from the Arabian Peninsula to the Mediterranean Sea.

To complement this blend of flavors we serve an extensive selection of organic wines, by the glass, and delicious craft brew beer.

For brunch our free-trade organic coffee and espresso comes from a "craft" roaster straight out of Brooklyn.

Our intimate and beautiful interior was designed and built using only recycled materials.

The hours are 8 a.m. to midnight.

Anyway, all this explains why we spotted 50 pounds of Table 12 to-go menus in the middle of East 12th Street one recent day…




Updated 2:41

A rep for the restaurant said that the Au Za’atar menus have not been finalized, and asked for us to remove the menu that we posted.

In addition, the old menus were left in the street by the carting company after they broke the garbage bag. The restaurant apparently cleaned them up after seeing what happened.

Monday, September 20, 2010

CB3 says no to Table 12's sidewalk booze

I couldn't attend tonight's CB3/SLA meeting due to a work commitment.... However, a reader chimed in with news that the committee (only four were there) rejected Table 12's request to serve beer and wine at their sidewalk cafe, which debuted back on Avenue A and 12th Street in late May...



To be honest, I'd want to drink if I had to sit here too....