Armenian Food At Almayass | Flatiron, New York City
Almayass brings the taste of Armenia to the Flatiron
It took long enough.
With far-flung locations in Beirut, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, Almayass has finally landed in New York.
The restaurant's food represents the influence of Armenians who flooded into Lebanon in the early 20th century. Culinary traditions are one of the lightest possessions to shoulder across borders, and the dishes here shout "home"–whether you grew up on pomegranate molasses and bulgur wheat or not.
Take a cue from this family-run mini empire and go all in with a family-style meal.
Flood the table with bowls of hummos (five varieties, $8 to $11), mujadara ($8), a lentil pilaf topped with crispy caramelized onions, and the hauntingly deep-red crushed-walnut, red-pepper and pomegranate-molasses spread mouhammara ($9.50). Spoon a bit of each onto your plate, pass and repeat.
Mantee, open-faced, boat-shaped dumplings ($15), have wonderful edges that form a crisp pocket around their ground-beef filling and swim in a fresh garlic-yogurt sauce. Temper sour-cherry-sauced beef kebabs (pictured; $29) with mouth-slicking spoonfuls of labneh ($8).
Sadly, the pita–dry and cold–is not made in-house. No matter, we happily ate the mouhammara by the spoonful.
Almayass, 24 E. 21st St. (between Broadway and Park Ave. S.); 212-473-3100 or almayassnyc.com