New restaurant brings a different take on Mediterranean to Fresno. No kebabs. No pilaf

Inside Look is a Fresno Bee series where we take readers behind the scenes at restaurants, new businesses, local landmarks and news stories.

Fresno has loads of Mediterranean restaurants.

The term is a catch-all for food in a city with connections in and around the Middle East: Armenia, Yemen, Greece, Palestine, Jordan and so many other places.

So when Badih Nassar and his brothers — who grew up in Lebanon — opened Zaatar Bistro at Shepherd Avenue and Champlain Drive in northeast Fresno, they wanted to do something a little different than all the other Mediterranean restaurants in town.

That, and Ark Mediterranean Grill is just a few doors down in the Via Montana shopping center and they didn’t want to duplicate.

Zaatar is a full-service sit-down restaurant open for breakfast, brunch and lunch. There’s no pilaf and no kebabs on the menu. Instead, the menu is a blend of authentic Lebanese, Mediterranean, European and American food designed for Fresno customers.

“We don’t have those traditional Mediterranean things you can find everywhere else,” Nassar said.

And the Nassar brothers know Fresno. They may have grown up in Lebanon, but they’ve been visiting their grandma, aunts and cousins in Fresno since the late 1970s.

Roy Nassar moved here in 2011 and opened Switch Lounge & Nightclub . Badih — you can call him Buddy, he says — followed years later.

Buddy ran a popular restaurant in Lebanon, and moved here to escape the unrest in his country. His wife and two kids followed in 2020. Their plane landed at 11:15 p.m. March 13, the last flight from Europe to make it through to the airport before the world shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You never know what’s hidden for you,” he said.

The food

That new life in the U.S. started with food, seeing if Fresnans would like Mediterranean cuisine that was a little different.

Buddy started Roasted Garlic Catering . And he and brother Rabih “Robby” Nassar started California Saj , a food truck that made Lebanese-style tortillas cooked on a large metal dome at the Tower District and River Park farmers markets.

“I was surprised,” he said. “They loved it.”

The menu they created at Zaatar has lots of fried pita bread, egg dishes and salads. There’s also a mix of familiar American foods, including omelets, burgers and avocado toast.

One popular dish is diced steak served atop hummus and topped with fried slivers of almonds. If a tub from Trader Joe’s is your only experience with hummus, know that this is different. The fresh-made hummus here is thick and velvety, the crunch of the almonds adding a variety of texture to the hummus and steak scooped up with pita bread.

Another highlight: The Chef’s Favas. If you’re thinking you would never order beans at a restaurant about now, you may want to rethink that. The dish is brimming with flavor like no other bean dish and is becoming one of their most popular sellers.

Forget the bulky green fava beans you’re used to, these are black fava beans. They’re small and brown when cooked, along with chickpeas in a lemon olive oil sauce that makes a sort of stew served with fresh vegetables and pita bread.

“It’s full of protein, but no meat,” Buddy said.

There’s also a spin on the “Armenian pizza” lahmajoun. The la-ma-jeen is a Lebanese take on the flatbread with ground beef, with different seasonings, mild onions, tomatoes and arugula along with a little less garlic and spice than the Armenian version.

The restaurant also has a full tea and coffee menu, including the pistachio flavored Pistaccino coffee drink.

The name of the restaurant, Zaatar, comes from the spice blend za’atar. Here, it includes dried thyme, sesame seeds, sumac, salt and olive oil.

The Zaatar omelet includes the spice blend, along with mushrooms and halloumi cheese.

Last week, a trio of sisters were celebrating one of their birthdays and trying out the omelet and other dishes. Some of the ingredients were new to them, but the unfamiliarity wasn’t overwhelming, they said.

“I love how he explains the menu,” Kimberly Arentz said of one of the owners. “It’s a vast menu. He explained the spices.”

Details: Zaatar is at 1568 E. Champlain Drive, suite 105. Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily plans for dinner. 559-388-8553.

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