Maher Nakhal opened Le Mirage Pastry in 2003. Initially, he focused on Middle Eastern sweets like knafeh, baklava, and cakes. In 2016, he built on frozen traditions that his in-laws established in the 1880s at Bakdash, a famed ice cream parlor in Damascus, Syria. To produce booza, a type of ice cream with a uniquely chewy texture, Nakhal and his team pound ice cream by hand with a wood hammer and scrape it off from a stainless steel well. Le Mirage Pastry uses milk, sugar, vanilla, rose water, sahlab (herbaceous orchid powder) and mastic for chew. Frozen slices become white petals rolled with crushed Turkish pistachios, forming decorative (and delicious) flowers.

Aref Shatarah and wife Magida are both from Ramallah on the West Bank. His father and grandfather ran Palestinian restaurants back home and the couple opened their first restaurant last year. Al Baraka translates from Arabic as “from god” or “god bless.” The couple features comforting dishes like bamya (tomato-based okra and beef stew), kufta (ground beef cooked in tahini or tomato sauce) and falafel stuffed with onions and sumac. Still, daily specials may be the biggest draw.

A recent visit found sheikh el mahshi, tender fried squash stuffed with pine nuts, onions, and ground beef cooked in yogurt and served with rice pilaf. Qidra involved a tender baked half-chicken served over yellow rice with chickpeas, onion, garlic, toasted almonds, and green cardamom, served with yogurt and pickled cucumbers. Sunday is an offal lover’s dream, where dishes like makadem and karshat combine lamb trotters, tongues, stuffed tripe, and “stuffed lamb adamant,” which has no connection to the “Goody Two Shoes” singer.

Chef Suher Masri and husband Nidal Hajomar escaped civil war torn Syria in 2012 and began opening restaurants in Anaheim. They started with art-lined Aleppo’s Kitchen in the back of a strip mall, which features a spacious patio and a sizable Syrian castle mural. They specialize in kibbeh, a beef and cracked wheat preparation that’s big in Syria. Aleppo’s Kitchen bakes, grills, and fries five different preparations. They also serve silky raw kibbeh, an olive oil-topped tartare that’s great on its own or loaded into pita. Kibbeh mishwiyeh is another must-try version featuring char-grilled “dumplings” stuffed with ground meat, onions, and nuts, served with a cooling yogurt cucumber sauce.

Aleppo’s Kitchen also grills kebabs, makes surprisingly light, donut shaped, sesame studded falafel and serves a terrific borek, fried phyllo dough rolls filled with a mint-flecked molten cheese blend. For dessert, nammoura is a substantial semolina cake soaked in honey and sprinkled with crushed pistachios. The same owners recently launched shawarma focused Layali El Sham café next door and also run Mangal at the nearby Anaheim Packing House.

Little Arabia is a hotbed for Middle Eastern flatbreads thanks to bakeries like Al Amir Bakery and Forn Al Hara, which both specialize in round Lebanese-style manakish, also known as sphiha. Koftegi started as Al Sanabel Bakery in the same space. After chef Mehmet Kaplan and wife Lisa Matarazzo took over this colorful quick service business, they expanded the menu to include Turkish comfort foods and continued serving Lebanese flatbreads. They also added Turkish boats, traditionally called pide, that feature different shapes and fillings.

Walnut lahmbaajin is a crispy oval topped with tangy ground beef and vegetables, finished with crumbled walnuts. The cheese and Turkish soujuk “boat” is both softer and pointier, topped with salty white cheese and sliced house-made beef “pepperoni.” You can’t spell Koftegi without Köfte, their signature grilled ground beef and lamb patties. The version filled with Kashkaval (sheep’s milk cheese) is particularly noteworthy, served with hummus, fluffy house-baked pita and salad. Döner, spit-shaved beef and lamb, stars in Iskender. Tomato sauce, browned butter, and toasted pita chunks accentuate this historic döner fueled dish, named for Mehmetoğlu İskender Efendi.

Longtime IT engineer Asem Abusir grew up in Nablus on the West Bank and now serves his city’s signature dessert in Little Arabia. His family has been making knafeh since 1918 and still runs shops in Jerusalem and Jordan. At his tiny Anaheim cafe, Abusir spins lacy shredded phyllo strands on a giant wheel in the kitchen, baking and cutting them to form crispy kataifi he features in knafeh. He makes vivid orange slabs — soft and crispy — with two different doughs for contrasting textures. Both versions feature stretchy white cow’s milk cheese, a generous simple syrup drizzle, and crushed pistachios. Other sweet highlights include hareeseh; warm Syrian-style semolina cake soaked in honey and simple syrup, topped with pistachios; and mamool, crumbly semolina cookies stuffed with fillings like date paste and walnuts. 

Bassam Abdallah runs this Iraqi restaurant in East West Shopping Center, named for a traditional clay oven. Orange walls are lined with Arabic art and photos. The restaurant serves a Halal menu of Iraqi comfort food classics: Tashreeb blankets tender lamb shank and puffy torn pita bread with bright tomato sauce. Masgouf zbeidi stars flaky butterflied pompano that’s grilled and then topped with sliced tomato and onion. Musakhan is spiced rotisserie Cornish game hen served on house-baked flatbread coated with onion, tangy sumac, almond slivers, and spices that cooks in the tannour before garnishing with mint leaves. Whole animal eaters will appreciate bacha, stewed lamb head served on bread that’s available by special order, and normally on weekends.

Cairo native Ahmed Rakha (an architect) teamed with Waleed Abdelaziz (a computer engineer) to open this destination Egyptian restaurant in 2014. Photos of Egypt line a small dining room’s walls, but most of the action takes place on a bamboo mat fenced patio where guests can smoke hookah. Their food is pure comfort, including Egypt’s national dish, koshari, a carbtastic plate starring lentils, rice, and macaroni, topped with fried onions and served with tomato sauce, garlic vinegar, and tangy hot sauce. They also excel with sausages, none better than mombar, rice and beef sausage seasoned with a seven-spice blend and made in a natural beef intestine casing featuring a great snap and chew. Cairo Restaurant serves luscious hamam mahshy, rice stuffed and roasted squab served with rice pilaf, salad and molokhia, vivid green soup made with naturally slimy jute leaves. Finally, order the hearty mesakaa — moussaka’s cousin — featuring fried eggplant slabs baked with ground beef in tomato sauce. 

The latest player on Little Arabia’s falafel scene is from Suzie Othman and husband Salah, across Katella Avenue by an “Anaheim” – but actually Garden Grove – bus stop. The couple hails from Beit Iksa on the West Bank, grew up in New York and started serving  Jerusalem-style Palestinian food in November 2021, earning long lines for their supple, parsley flecked orbs, which are about the size of gumballs. The name translates from Arabic as “amazing” or “wonderful” and both descriptions fit Sababa’s falafel. This casual restaurant serves chicken and ribeye, but it’s best known for falafel, which comes in bowls and pita sandwiches. For the latter,  smashed falafel come tucked into fluffy sliced pita, with options like creamy hummus, red chile sauce, pickles, red cabbage, tahini, a jalapeño garlic lemon slurry, and mint. Falih Abu Amba, an Iraqi mango sauce, provides a punchy finish.