"Pulling open the blue-green door to Maydān, in a tucked-away alley in Washington, DC, feels like unlocking a portal to a souk-set fever dream. As I step onto the plush carpet, and my eyes adjust to the sultry lighting, I notice rich tapestries hung on walls blanketed by clouds of heady incense. This restaurant is its own realm, anchored by a roaring, wood-fired hearth where cooks move in concert-palming rounds of dough to deposit in the clay oven, clacking tongs to turn swordfish kebabs."
"Maydān, which opened in 2017-and whose name connotes an urban gathering space in Arabic, but also has Hindi, Urdu, Persian, and Ukrainian roots-is the DC eatery for which restaurateur Rose Previte has dug into her Lebanese heritage, while also borrowing from neighboring countries with flavors like Yemeni tahini, which gives the hummus a smoky undercurrent, and red shatta, a Palestinian hot pepper sauce used for her umami-bomb oyster mushrooms. But at its heart, Maydān is an ode to Lebanese kitchens past and present."
Maydān recreates a souk-like sensory realm with plush carpets, sultry lighting, tapestries, and heady incense. The restaurant centers on a roaring wood-fired hearth where cooks palmed dough into a clay oven, turned swordfish kebabs, and roasted hanging lamb. The menu fuses Lebanese roots with regional flavors such as Yemeni tahini and Palestinian red shatta, applied to hummus and oyster mushrooms. The restaurant's name, Maydān, evokes an urban gathering space across multiple languages. Rose Previte anchored the concept in Lebanese culinary traditions and chose open-fire techniques to reflect ancient cooking methods.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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