Mideast Meets Midwest: Layla Brokers a Delicious Peace

When we heard Layla Lebanese Restaurant in the Grove was being re-invented by a new owner as a “Lebanese fusion” restaurant last fall, we had to investigate. Who? Whuh? Huh?

A year later, Layla (they shortened the name) is celebrating its first anniversary as a hotbox of new tastes, where falafel splits open to reveal goat cheese, burgers and lamb commingle in a zoo-on-a-bun, and baklava and gooey butter cake emerge from Dr. Frankenstein’s lab as a single creature.

The first birthday party, scheduled for Fri., Sept.19, serves a number of functions. It’s a celebration of a challenge met, said Layla owner Jason Sparks. Creating a destination “burger and shwarma joint,” as he terms it, has been a battle of gradually changing old-world styles to funky new hybrids, and dangling unfamiliar ideas before the dining public. (And any restaurant deserves a huge congrats for surviving its first year.) It’s a chance for ambitious new bar manager Tony Saputo to show off his new selection of complex fall drinks. It’s an all-night happy hour in conjunction with St. Louis Craft Spirits & Cocktail Week, featuring drinks made by area distilleries Pinckney Bend, Spirits of St. Louis, Big O ginger liqueur, and Still 630. And, last but not least, it also happens to be Sparks’ birthday.

The menu at Layla is a focused display of idiosyncrasy. For instance, there are 11 different burgers starring eight different proteins, points out Sparks. The condiments on these burgers include sumac onions, date jam, and a smoked mango sauce. The weekend brunch menu includes a Moroccan skillet made with eggs, kefta spiced meatballs, potatoes and soft lebnah cheese. It’s the sort of place that other chefs would do well to visit; creativity is honored here.

Those burgers include “The Reaper,” a locally sourced beef patty topped with sliced leg of lamb, Monterey jack, apricot ketchup, sumac onions, tomato, lemon garlic mayo, and flash-fried kale on a brioche bun. The cow/lamb combo is a success story of inter-species love. The “Devil’s Advocate” is a locally produced pork burger with beef bacon, sumac onions, Swiss, chartreuse pickles, and beer- caraway mustard on a pretzel bun. The pickles lend the whole sandwich a marinated-in-booze quality. The renowned “Jane Says” veggie burger is a blend of lentils and spices packed loosely, like a crab cake, with a crab cake’s moist texture.

Falafel balls avoid the norm by being stuffed with goat cheese and served with a muted date jam as a dipping sauce. The cheese and the fruit are a classic combo.

“Falafel is a medium, a base for other things, though not many people take advantage of what you can do with it,” said Sparks.

Similarly, his falafel fries are bold, crunchy sticks shaped like railroad ties, served with a fresh tziziki sauce heavy with dill.

French fries are seasoned with “Layla spice,” a blend of spices that includes allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin and coriander. It’s a minor revelation of sweet-meets-salty. The fries’ dipping sauce, an apricot catsup, needs to be bottled and sold. Like the veggie burger, it’s worthy of pilgrimage.

The signature dessert at Layla is the “gooey butter baklava.” It’s phyllo on the bottom, gooey butter on the top, and sweet as you might imagine. It actually manages to make both dishes more decadent.

Milkshakes include the “Turkish Delight,” made with strawberries, rose water, and pistachio ice cream; and the “Chocolate Tahini,” featuring shaved dark chocolate, tahini, a chocolate drizzle and vanilla ice cream.

Saputo, formerly of Eclipse, “takes the bar to a whole new level,” said Sparks. We would agree. The hirsute new bar manager, who is active in the local chapter of U.S. Bartenders Guild, lets the cocktails speak for him.

New drinks for fall include the “Wrath of Pecan,” which is sweet, buttery, accessible, and made with every arrow in the barman’s quiver. It includes brown butter-infused Old Grand-Dad 114 bourbon, Camus cognac, Ramazzotti amaro bitter Italian liqueur, Kronan Swedish punch liqueur, Jerry Thomas bitters, a dynamite house-made pecan orgeat, and a sprig of winter savory herbs. It’s a drink that a Manhattan-drinker would enjoy, said Saputo.

The cutely named “Smooth Opepperator” is made with muddled green peppers. Saputo has leavened the vegetable flavor with Death’s Door gin, house-made sumac syrup, lemon juice, Suze Gentiane liqueur, and Carpano Bianco white vermouth. It has a marvelously fresh aroma and taste, and Saputo points out that it encapsulates the flavors from a fall garden.

He calls the “No Apologies” cocktail “robust and mean,” and intended for “veterans” of serious mixological adventures. It contains Buffalo Trace bourbon, Plantation dark rum, Zucca rhubarb amaro, Fernet Branca, Liquore Strega, Peychaud’s Bitters. The Sazerac-style concoction slams into you with a punch that may elicit laughter from its sheer force.

Layla is positioned in a neighborhood that’s attracting new businesses and home rehabbers with a fury that seems to be independent of larger economic forces. Everybody wants into the Grove. At Layla, the cuisine is unique, and the staffers are committed. Their first year in business should be the first of many.

Layla

4317 Manchester Rd.

314-553-9252

laylastl.com

Layla's One-Year Birthday Bash

Friday, Sept. 19

7 p.m.

Featuring food and drink specials, St. Louis Craft Spirits & Cocktail Week locally sourced drinks, free samples, live music, and a DJ.