Food & Culture

OMG! Mamnoon starts brunch service

Israeli egg dishes, fresh-baked Iranian bread, and other Middle Eastern morning goodies

By Seattle Mag June 15, 2016

It’s a fine day when one of our favorite restaurants announces it is finally launching a brunch program. Effective June 18 — just in time for Father’s Day — Mamnoon on Capitol Hill is rolling out a Middle Eastern-inspired brunch menu that will make it way easier to get over the fact that they recently stopped serving lunch. It all makes sense now.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, chef de cuisine David Gurewitz will offer an array of egg dishes–and it’s not just trendy shakshuka. Look for sujuk hash, beef brisket dish with potato, onion, sumac, allspice, fenugreek and two fried eggs. I’m particularly excited that I don’t have to go to Westwood anymore – yes, in Los Angeles – for barbari, the Iranian flatbread flecked with sesame seeds. Mamnoon will make their own.

Other interesting items: Harees, a savory, wheat porridge with chicken, cumin, cinnamon and butter. Sides will include: Harra fries, Salatat al fawaakih (fruit salad), Arnabeit Makli (fried cauliflower with tarator sauce) and bagels, which will be made in house. Speaking of baking, pastry chef Carrie Mashaney will be rolling out some fantastic pastries and sweets, such as Halawet, a Lebanese sweet cheese with rose jelly and pistachio; Kaak, or slipper bread, stuffed with knafeh (toasted vermicelli, fresh cheese and orange blossom syrup) and her epic baklava.

Executive chef Jason Stratton will start offering brunch cocktails that match the Middle Eastern flavor profile, including pistachio sours and mimosas using the juices from Mamnoon’s sibling juice bar, anar. And in case you missed the news in May, Mamnoon now offers happy hour as well, from 4 to 6 p.m. daily, with specials like Mini Man’aeesh (lahm or zaatar) for $4; half Arnabeit Makli (deep fried cauliflower, tarrator, parsley) for $6; Harra Frites for $5; plus special prices on white, red, and pink wines by the glass and bottle, canned beer and cocktails.

Hooray. Carry on, Thursday.

Join The Must List

Five Things You Need to Eat in September

A grilled cheese smash burger? Katsu spam masubi? Creative mash-ups born from the delicious idea of two-in-one

A lot of good things come from saying, “Why not do both?” When both options are coveted, marrying the two hardly feels like a compromise at all. The food scene is working hard to make our tough choices easier, particularly as we head into autumnal months when cravings turn to comfort foods, but stomach space…

Tiffany Ran

Big Mario’s Reopens Northlake After Seven-Month Closure

Big Mario’s reopens venerable pizza spot in time for Husky opener

The Northlake Tavern & Pizza House lives on. Big Mario’s has reopened the popular destination near the University of Washington campus as Big Mario’s Northlake Tavern. The 65-year-old pizza joint closed in January after the previous owner retired. Big Mario’s said at the time that the closure would last only two months, but the full-blown…

Rob Smith

Five Things You Need to Eat in August

Ube pancakes, egg cream, and blistered tomato memories

Food has the wonderful effect of capturing a time and place. Many dishes in this city bring memories into the present, celebrate history, and preserve the abundance of our current season. What is old can be made anew. And in this bustling city where creativity, change, and traditions intersect, we can return to many familiar…

Tiffany Ran

A Pandan Treat

How a Vietnamese coffee shop became one of the city's best under-the-radar waffle spots

Whether it’s a hot puff of steam pushing through a tightly packed mound of grounds, or beans whirring in a grinder perfuming the air with their bitter oils, in almost every coffee shop on the planet there’s only one scent that dominates: coffee. So, it can be a little surprising to walk inside Phin Vietnamese…

Stefanie Ellis