A Taste of Lebanon in the Heart of Oklahoma City
Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024
My time in the Air Force gave me the opportunity to explore the world more than your average person. Countless trips around the continental US. Ireland, Germany, Kuwait, and Qatar, all brief stops less than a week, but enough time to see things were different. I’ve always been a sponge for culture. I find great joy in learning how things operate around the world. Four deployments to Southwest Asia (the ‘Middle East’) gave me plenty of time to absorb a whole new world. Different clothes, different sounds, different smells, so much to take in. Outside of current events, nearby incidents, or pandemics, we were able to explore the country. Beautiful cities like Dubai (United Arab Emirates) sparkle even more when compared to 24-hour workdays. I truly enjoyed seeing the tallest building in the world, riding the world’s fastest roller coaster, and ATVing sand dunes outside of Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). What really brought me joy though, was the culture.
Food has always been my gateway to culture. As someone who thoroughly enjoys cooking, I especially love trying new food. My first experience watching a stack of meat rotating on a vertical spit, it looked magical. You may have seen this in a Greek restaurant ordering a Gyro, or many other Mediterranean and Arabic restaurants ordering Shawarma. As the stack of lamb, beef, or chicken slowly rotates, the outside cooks like a rotisserie turned sideways. As the outside of the meat stack comes to temperature it’s sliced off in thin strips, often served in a sandwich or wrap form. I’ve always found this to be an interesting process compared to how I grew up cooking. With this style of cooking being uncommon in Oklahoma City it was a delight to see in a restaurant downtown; Saj Lebanese Cuisine.
A ‘Sâj’ is a cooking utensil, a sort of grill or cooking surface with a rounded, domelike shape. Heat from underneath like frying paying and typically used for flatbreads like pita, naan, and saj bread. The sâj cooking utensil has a rich history, the word originating from the Ottoman Turkish language a ‘sac’ was a pan or cooking surface. Flatbreads can be seen throughout cuisine in the Mediterranean and West Asia, Lebanon though also has a rich history of culture and cuisine.
The history of Lebanon is set in communication and trade. Lumber from the forests around Mount Lebanon used to build ships, these ships then used to trade lumber, crops, livestock, spices, even their alphabet. Phoenicia was the name of the area from 2500 BC to 64 BC, although it’s also referred to as Canaan, the “Promised Land”. Phoenicia grew through its extensive trade network, a group of city-states that spread across the Mediterranean Sea. A focus on fine art versus large statues highlights their life of travel. Jewelry, pottery and glassware are found from the Phoenicians as far as Russia. Sidonia, or Sidon is currently the third largest city in Lebanon, but thousands of years ago was often referenced for the works of art that came from it. This fine craft translated to their cookware, pottery found just 2mm thick, like the thin metal of a sâj used today.
Over the next few thousand years, parts of Lebanon would be ruled by many different empires. Egyptians, Persians, Romans, and the Ottomans, the culture changing as the people did. The people changed, and the land changed, but the culture evolved. Initially relying on trade, travel and communication, spread thin across the Mediterranean Sea, Lebanon is now home to more than 6 million people, including foreign workers and refugees. Lebanon now more condensed kept its focus on fine art, expanding to literature and music. My experience with West Asia has shown me a lot of new things, I’ve heard music I would have never imagined, seen powerful art, and tasted flavors that surprised me almost every time.
Saj Lebanese Cuisine is about more than just their food, although we’ll get to that. This restaurant is on the ground floor of a two-story building off Broadway. Blending in seamlessly with Automobile Alley, it feels right at home in our beautiful city. Home and family are values that are rich in both Arabic and Mediterranean cultures, but also here in Oklahoma.
This value for family, for feeling at home brings a comforting feeling, especially as you walk through the doors into this restaurant. The kitchen is immediately visible, they aren’t afraid to showcase family and friends working together to create amazing flavors. I’ve had the opportunity to eat here a few times now, and each visit I am surprised again by the deep earthy flavors of the main courses contrasted by bright citrusy sauces and salads. My first experience with Lebanese food was here at Saj, I was excited to see beer, wine, and of course food native to the area of Lebanon. Lebanese cuisine is slightly different than other food around the Mediterranean Sea, the strong trade culture started by the Phoenicians brought spices and flavors from all over the world to Lebanon. Spices like cinnamon brought by the Greeks to the Mediterranean are featured in a Lebanese 7-spice blend, which seems to differ from source to source.
With this cuisine being influenced by the cultures around the world, I wondered what made Lebanese food different. Lebanese food is not spicy, which can contrast flavors from places like Italy, Afghanistan, and even places here in the United States. Lebanese food also comes with a freshness, tomatoes arriving in the country in the 1900’s, brought fresh salads like tabouli. A mix full of parsley and tomatoes, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil, simple but delicious. Lebanese food is also meant to be shared. Mediterranean and Arabic cultures both value the idea of a family dinner, distilled from the values of home and family. Sharing at a family dinner is popular in a lot of cultures, tapas seen in Spanish culture. There is a word for this, Meze, or ‘Mezza’ seen on the menu at Saj, which is traditionally like the idea of tapas. This would be a set of small dishes, served in a particular order, sometimes up to 20 different plates of food! Typically, a meal like this would be eaten slowly, and in a relaxed environment. Casually snacking on different flavors as the night progresses. The Mezze Platter at Saj Lebanese Cuisine is a bit different, one plate instead of twenty, it’s still great to share! This platter along with the Mixed Grill Platter are available on the menu every day, and perfect for your own family style dinner experience. A variety of traditional foods, made with love, you can’t go wrong.
I’d love to give you a recount of every bite I took, as each one comes with a unique blend of flavor. I’m not going to do that though; I challenge you to experience this taste of Lebanon for yourself. But not only yourself, bring a friend, bring your family, and try something new! Either a new dish for yourself, or a new experience to share with the whole group.
