Maydan Market has many sumptuous food hall options
FOOD COURT SEATING is under a curvaceous wooden ceiling.
Forget everything you thought you knew about food halls. The new Maydan Market by Michelin-starred chef Rose Previte in West Adams, is a sumptuous feast for the senses. Like all food halls, there’s a selection of different food options, but that’s where the similarities end. Within the distressed brick walls of this city block-sized renovated former textile factory, Previte has gathered gourmet food options from other lauded chefs and restaurants: Yhing Yhang offers Thai barbeque from the folks behind Holy Basil; Lugya’h brings Oaxacan cooking from Poncho’s Tlayudas’ chefs; Malena’s coastal Afro-Mexican dishes are from the chefs behind Tamales Elena; and Club 104 has a rotating array of pop-ups. Previte helms two food options at the Market, both originated in Washington, D.C.: Compass Rose Café and Bar, and Maydan, a Middle Eastern sit-down restaurant. There is also the Sook where spices and packaged foods are available to grab and go. What ties the disparate global cuisines together is live fire cooking—and the heart of the Market is the huge copper hearth all the eateries share.
MUHAMMARA, a Middle Eastern spread of walnuts and roasted red pepper, with house made flat bread.
When I first walked into Maydan Market, it was impossible not to smile. The space is cavernous with a soaring ceiling yet feels surprisingly intimate and warm. There’s a pleasant, energetic hubbub, and the wooden floors, hanging plants and multi-colored pendant lamps give the space a homey feel. A phone app provides ordering options from all the food places besides those Previte runs—Compass Rose is its own semiautonomous indoor-outdoor area, and Maydan is the more traditional restaurant, tucked into its own space, yet contiguous with the rest of the Market. We ate at Maydan.
Middle Eastern flavors touch even the cocktails at Maydan: za’atar and sumac, cumin liqueur and saffron are featured in martinis and highballs. My husband was happy with his labneh-washed mezcal cocktail and I enjoyed my red Lebanese wine.
ROASTED SWEET POTATOES with brown butter.
Maydan has two food options: the “Tawle,” from the Arabic word for “table,” is a prix fixe multi-plate menu for the whole table which includes spreads, various fire-grilled items, sauces, choice of one main course, unlimited freshly hearth-baked bread, and dessert. We opted for à la carte and loved everything we ordered.
I’ve eaten a fair amount of Middle Eastern food recently, but Maydan’s live-fire cooking brought out the soul in the dishes. We started with wonderful flat bread and muhammara, a roasted red pepper and walnut dip sweetened with pomegranate molasses. It was earthy, unctuous and satisfying. Baby eggplants with tahini and pickled golden raisins were perfectly roasted and loaded with flavor. My husband, who is not normally an eggplant fan, loved these. I almost always order sweet potatoes when I see them on a menu because they are leagues more interesting than most other starchy vegetables. Fire-cooking amplified their innate sweetness, urfa pepper and Aleppo pepper honey added some zing, and brown butter gilded the lily in a good way.
BAR SEATING in Maydan restaurant.
GRILLED PRAWNS, garlic sauce, chicken kebab, and roasted eggplant are served.
For our main we shared a chicken shish taouk, a meaty, well-seasoned kebab. Grilled with garlic, the Middle Eastern spice fenugreek, which tastes like a nutty, mild maple syrup, and basted with pomegranate molasses, the generous portion of chicken was moist and flavorful.
We shared a coconut date cake for dessert—how could we resist? And it was perfectly sweet and moist—not cloying or gooey. Next time we’ll add an after-dinner amaro or indulge in an arak, a powerful grape-based drink usually served half-and-half with water, which clouds the liquid and cuts the alcohol. It’s said to facilitate conversation. Judging from the number of tables around us with lingering couples chatting away while munching on crumbs, it must work.
Maydan Restaurant (in Maydan Market), 4301 W. Jefferson Blvd., maydanmarket.com.
Category: Entertainment
