It started with a grapevine growing over her house in Lemon Grove that threatened to strangle a utility pole. But Noura Bishay didn’t see it as an overgrown pest. She saw it as an opportunity.
“In our culture, we don’t look at grapes as the grape only,” she explains. Her family comes from Cairo, Egypt, where stuffed grape leaves (dolmas) are a common dish in traditional cuisine. What better way to introduce her homeland’s food to friends and neighbors than by taking the bounty of leaves in her own yard and teaching a few classes on how to make dolmas themselves?
It worked immediately. “There were miracles happening around the table,” Bishay marvels.
That success led to an idea, which led to a referral, which led to a $3,000 COOK Alliance grant, which eventually allowed Bishay and her mother Samia Khair to open The Hidden Gazebo Eatery, a microenterprise home kitchen operation (MEHKO) in January.
Hidden Gazebo offers a three-hour, seven-course set menu featuring classic Egyptian ingredients like lentils, chickpeas, fava beans, and other legumes; proteins like braised lamb; and microgreens and flower garnishes from Bishay’s garden. “I’d rather use the stuff in my backyard, so I know where it’s coming from,” she says. Whatever’s in season, blooming, and available makes it to the plate.
Back in Egypt, Bishay’s family planted 30,000 olive trees in the desert to cultivate a farm, creating an oasis that brought dozens of family members and friends to their table at any given time. Preparing a buffet feast for 20-plus guests was a regular occurrence, but California law limits MEHKOs to 30 meals a day or 90 meals per week. “It’s very different from our culture to do the seven plates, but for me, it’s like a journey. I’m taking you back to Egypt and bringing you back home,” she explains.
In some ways, that’s literal: For the sourdough bites in the first course, called The Pyramid, she claims the starter is 700 years old. (Considering sourdough originated in ancient Egypt around 1,500 B.C.E., I’m inclined to believe her.)
Fava beans are cooked for at least seven hours, then finished with lemon preserves for a splash of acid, drizzled with parsley oil, sprinkled with black sesame and housemade pickles, and garnished with flowers and microgreens from her garden. It’s the history of Egyptian cuisine and home cooking all in one.
For now, Bishay and Khair only offer Hidden Gazebo seatings on weekends, certain special occasions, or by private request during the week. They plan to launch brunch service in April and hope to perhaps expand to a bigger house one day, maybe near the ocean. The current space in the family’s backyard is a garden covered with trees, including the pièce de résistance: a century-old Chinese elm tree with a 50-year-old staghorn fern hanging from it. It’s an entirely different world, and that’s the point, says Bishay. “I tell [guests] to make sure to touch every tree,” she says. “Every tree has a story.”
Reservations for Hidden Gazebo Eatery are available here.
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San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
Beth’s Bites
- It’s a reunion of delicious proportions. On April 17, chef Roberto Alcocer of Michelin-starred Valle in Oceanside will host his culinary school compatriot chef Daniel Romero for a one-night dinner featuring the fabulous cuisine of Puebla in central Mexico. Guests can also add an optional tequila pairing from Reserva de la Familia, and can I just say: That sounds a lot more fun than a wine tasting (but that’s just me). I have a feeling this one might get a little lively.
- The second annual Taste of La Mesa Village hits the streets of La Mesa on Thursday, April 23, at 5 p.m., featuring over a dozen local restaurants of the up-and-coming East County gem. Sold out? Not to worry—there are still opportunities to volunteer, and the waitlist is open. It seems as though the Jewel of the Hills isn’t quite so sleepy anymore…
- Deckman’s North keeps reinventing itself, which seems like a smart move for restaurants that want to stay alive in this tough economy. The latest change is a new “Fire Table,” a two hour, eight-seat, five course chef’s-counter experience around a live oak fire (reminiscent of chef Drew Deckman’s Baja restaurant Deckman’s en El Mogor, which I assume is the point), with (optional) wine from Santa Barbara and Baja California, cold-smoked seafood, grilled veggies, smoked meats, and a slow-cooked main plus a few other fire-kissed surprises along the way.
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