Hold onto your za’atar, Sonoma County is finally getting some Israeli and North African cuisine worthy of Wine Country.
Chez Panisse alum Brian Leitner has opened a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant with partner Annette Yang at the former Luma space in Petaluma. But where “Mediterranean” often means Italian or Greek, menu-wise, the newly opened Pearl takes inspiration from the exotic, warm-weather cuisines of Spain, Morocco, Southern France and the Middle East.
Open for breakfast and lunch only, the menu includes “Israeli breakfast” of green hummus, labneh (it’s somewhere between yogurt and cream cheese) and fresh pita with olive oil and za’atar (a spice blend of cumin, sumac, thyme, coriander and sesame seeds); smoked trout with house ricotta and semolina flatbread, cassoulet of duck confit and beans; chicken tagine, with yogurt and couscous; lamb tongue fattoush (a salad with toasted pita) and shakshuka, a vivid tomato stew with chickpeas, fresh fava, baked eggs and grilled sheeps milk cheese I can’t get enough of.
We’ll have plenty more to say about this spot in the coming weeks, but one of the biggest surprises was the no tipping policy. Menu prices include all service, rather than having the restaurant automatically tack on a “service charge” or depend on customers to tip staff. Love that.
Prices range from $8 to $20 with both small and larger plates. 500 First St., Petaluma, 707-559-5187, pearlpetaluma.com.
fabulous food (no matter what the cultural derivations)….after three visits, still knocked out by the attention to detail and the great service….(not to mention, that this spot is a wonderful place to hang)….check it out!….
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We so wanted this restaurant to be amazing. Unfortunately the food was so ethnically unauthentic. We spent 3 weeks in Morocco and the chicken tagine was dreadful. The charmoula was dreadful. The wine pour was very small. Service was just fair.
Gee, I grew up eating the same breakfast everyday! So did my parents, grandparents and great grandparents as Palestinians in the Middle East, before Israel existed! Naming it an Israeli breakfast is just wrong and so
annoying!!!
Simply google fattoush, labneh and educate yoursel!
That’s an arab Palestinian breakfast, not “Israeli”…its insulting to even name it that. Talk about cultural appropriation, wow.
This is Arab food!
Because every breakfast should be politicized.
It’s Mediterranean food, found all around the Mediterranean with a few variations, not “Arab food”.