Park Slope's Sawa is a lovely Lebanese feast for the senses

‘We just could not find any good Lebanese food here,’ says Samaya Boueri Ziade. So she changed that

Samaya Boueri Ziade has lived in Park Slope for 15 years now. It’s where she and her husband are raising their two children. It’s a community that, as she tells Brooklyn Magazine, “is really my home. I love it here.”

That doesn’t mean Boueri Ziade doesn’t miss Lebanon, where she and her husband were both born and raised — in a coastal town north of Beirut and where many of their family members still lives.

A slice of Lebanon in Park Slope (Photo by Scott Lynch)

“When we first moved to Park Slope we just could not find any good Lebanese food here,” she says. “So when I had kids I really got into cooking, and making healthier food. And I focused a lot on Lebanese cuisine. I missed it a lot and I also wanted my children to have that connection.”

And she was not only feeding her family. Boueri Ziade got so into cooking (she honed her skills through books, classes and videos) that she launched a series of neighborhood popups under the name Levantine. But it wasn’t until a pair of devastating events in Lebanon — the economic collapse in 2019, and the horrifying explosion at the Port of Beirut in 2020 — that Boueri Ziade started to seriously consider starting a full-blown restaurant here in her adopted home.

“I felt like I was losing a part of myself during that time,” she says. “So that pushed me into doing something more. For myself and for Lebanon. To represent the country, and our people, in a different way than what you see on the news.”

Sawa, which Boueri Ziade opened in April with her brother George Boueri, is the realization of those dreams, a beauty of a restaurant that seats about 45 in a pair of dining areas (with more to come in a spacious back patio). In the early going here on Fifth Avenue, just about every one of those seats has been full. There’s also space up front for provisions and such from local Lebanese artisans and makers.

Boueri Ziade’s warmth and the lively atmosphere of the place certainly contribute to Sawa’s immediate popularity at this end of Fifth Avenue, home mostly to spots like Cinnabon and the Spark Slope weed shop. Just as important, though, she and her husband hired Soroosh Golbabae to run the kitchen, an ace chef de cuisine who has worked at Sofreh, Eyval and Gramercy Tavern. “I worked out the recipes, but we wanted a strong chef that could really execute the vision,” says Boueri Zaide. “We lucked out with Chef Soroosh. It’s been great.”

Grilled squid with freekeh in ink, $19 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

The menu here is compact and filled with winners, many of which put a contemporary spin on Lebanese classics. Getting some creamy, lemony hummus, for example, a warm, fluffy pita on the side for scooping, is an expected way to start a meal at a place like Sawa. But order it with a mound of sticky bits of beef cheek on top, a five dollar up-charge, and suddenly your random Thursday dinner feels like a special occasion.

Hummus with wagyu beef cheek, $17 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

There are plump sambousek, or fried meat pies, in the mezze section, and a good-looking kibbeh nayeh made with raw lamb. There are lots of vegetable dishes like grilled chicory salad and arnabeet, which is roasted cauliflower drizzled in spicy tahini. We went full fish mode, with an excellent plate of cured fluke in blood orange and sumac sauce, and a pile of tender grilled squid and chewy freekeh in an impressively impenetrable puddle of ink.

Cured fluke with blood orange, $20 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Sawa’s entrees are generously portioned, so your party of two really needs only one to share if you’ve gorged on dips and mezzes (which you should). Get the lamb shank if it’s still around when you go — Boueri Ziade described the menu as “seasonal,” and this hefty, hearty dish will likely leave for a bit come summer — for a delightful funky meat party, the glistening hunk of leg surrounded by crisp, juicy kibbeh and a thick tahini sauce. Spoon it all over the accompanying rice for maximum pleasure.

Lamb shank with kibbeh in tahini sauce, $48 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Other entrees include a half-chicken with crispy potatoes, a whole fish in tomato pepper stew, a quartet of lamb chops and, the only meatless option, a rich eggplant and tahini dish called fatteh batenjen, which is brightened considerably by the sprinkling of pomegranate seeds. For dessert there are two semolina-based sweets (one a pudding, one a cake) and some housemade sorbet. Cocktails hover around $15, there are a couple of beers available, and bottles of wine will set you back about $60.

Eggplant with tahini yogurt, $26 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Sawa means “together,” and the team here works hard to make your meal feel like it’s a part of some sort of larger community gathering. “We love the neighborhood,” says Boueri Ziade. “And we want Sawa to be an experience, not just a restaurant. A place where we can all come together, and linger, and support each other.”

Sawa is located at 75 Fifth Avenue, between St. Marks Avenue and Prospect Place, and is currently open on Wednesday through Sunday from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.