The best Middle Eastern food in NYC, from Lebanese restaurants to meze and grills

Half Syrian and half Korean, SyKo isn’t a fusion restaurant; it features two separate menus, both done effortlessly well. (The marriage of the two cuisines, in fact, reflects the actual marriage of the owners.) Explore the Syrian menu, where you can order sweet-and-spicy muhammara and silky labneh for an appetizer; a sujok sandwich stuffed with minced beef sausage, garlic paste, pickles and fries; or a standout falafel platter that’s among the very best in the city. Their take on the meal feels totally fresh, with an acidic snap from turnip pickles and pockets of fresh mint leaves. 

After his beloved restaurant Taboon was destroyed in a fire, chef Efi Naon has reopened a new spot where the old one stood. Still using the clay oven that made Taboon famous, he’s serving up a similar menu that includes Moroccan cigars made with wagyu beef and tahini, lamb served in a clay pot with a flatbread top and a latke-crusted sea bass. While the modern Middle Eastern cooking Naon helped usher in may have long since arrived, it’s worth returning for a taste of the original. 

While its name refers to the cloth that Iranians spread on the floor and cover with platters of food, you won’t see any linens at this spot. Instead, the restaurant sports cement tables and cement floors with a white-painted brick wall. The cozy vibes arrive when chef-owner Nasim Alikhani’s food hits the table, offering a culinary crash course in the classic techniques and ingredients of Persian cuisine.

Whether concocting a swirl of whipped labneh or a bubbling pan of shakshuka, chef Tomer Blechman draws on his Israeli background for creative crowd-pleasers including baba ganoush with ginger aioli and sweet potato hummus.

This heralded Israeli pita shop in Chelsea Market is a key player in the renaissance of Middle Eastern cuisine in NYC. The menu is split up between “in a pita” and “out-of-the-pita,” though you're going to want to get a sampling of both—and don’t miss the whole roasted baby cauliflower. 

Named after the Middle Eastern spice blend, this bistro is famous for their tableside shawarma. Other dishes, including a braised lamb shank and kibbeh, Lebanon's national dish, are equally delicious, if not TikTok-worthy. The 46-seat restaurant, outfitted with burgundy banquettes, exposed brick walls and a five-stool bar, also offers organic wines and craft beers.

This Greenwich Village restaurant specializes in its namesake, kubeh, a Middle Eastern dish that can either appear as a meat croquette or a dumpling filled with meat. Here, it’s served in the Kurdish style common in Israel: round balls of dough filled with veggies, fish or meat and served in broth. Choose from a variety of fillings and broths to build your bowl of kubeh.

Palestinian-born Rawia Bishara, who runs the restaurant with her daughter Jumana, walks the dining room nightly, a maternal hostess generously handing out hugs, handshakes and big party platters lavishly garnished in tomatoes, parsley and za’atar dust. Her cooking—Middle Eastern soul food, you might call it—is inspired by traditional techniques. While many dishes are just as her mother made them, plenty of others chart their own course.

Forget the standard lamb kebab and try the albaloo polo with jujeh, instead: chunks of cornish hen marinated in lemon, grilled and served with basmati rice spiked with sour cherries. An appetizer of kashk-bademjan (a warm, smoky puree of tomato and eggplant) makes for an elegant and addictive change from the usual baba ganoush. 

It’s 4am, and you’ve got ten bucks and a serious case of the munchies—you’re heading to Mamoun’s, where they’ve been affordable Middle Eastern food since 1971. The falafel is served in a pita with lettuce, tomato and tahini, although it’s best with added hummus or baba ganoush. Sweet pastries like baklava with walnuts or pistachios will leave you satisfied and finally ready to sleep. 

In the main dining room, the walls of windows and mirrors create the impression of a giant kaleidoscope, while the high ceilings and a plush adjacent lounge add to the feeling of grandeur. This is haute Lebanese: an elegant take on the familiar. The falafel, for instance, has a crisp crust topped by a dainty cylinder of chopped tomato. The humble pita bread, instead of being just an afterthought, is unusually light, like an Indian puri. 

Expanding from a Smorgasburg stall to a brick-and-mortar restaurant, this Lebanese street-food vendor layers its namesake breakfast flatbread with savory toppings like akkawi cheese, za'atar spices and ground beef, or sweet additions like halawa (candied sesame paste) and Nutella.