The first time I went to Mizlala — an understated and superb Middle Eastern restaurant — there was only one location, on Sepulveda in Sherman Oaks, just as the 405 settles down for a rarely easy drive across the Valley.
It’s a destination for those who crave the shockingly delicious cooking of Chef Danny Elmaleh, who I’ve long thought of as Los Angeles’ answer to Philadelphia’s superb Michael Solomontov, creator of Zahav — for my money, one of the best restaurants in America. What these two men manage to do with hummus and pita, falafel and kofta, amazes. One bite can bring tears to your eyes. Such simple ingredients filled with such amazing flavor!
These days, there are three branches of Mizlala. Along with the original on Sepulveda, there are outposts on newly trendy West Adams and in the little-known Sycamore section of town, near Central City.
Unlike Zahav, these are affable storefronts, perfect places to go for cooking that tastes best eaten in a farmers market, or from a food truck, with utensils being optional; is there anything that can’t be eaten easily, and most pleasurably, with a freshy torn piece of pita? Mizlala sits in what seems to be a restaurant mini-mall with a parking lot in back added as an afterthought.
It’s a narrow restaurant that fills up easily and quickly, with a loyal crowd that doesn’t linger. This is street food served in a sit-down setting. It arrives fast, and is consumed even faster. The menu is simple. And every bite is a treat. And, of course, it travels just fine.
Mizlala shares its mall with an Italian restaurant, a Katsuya izaka-ya, and a Guatemalan restaurant. And in the space that used to be home to the wonderful Simon’s Café, the son of Simon — Danny Elmaleh — opened a restaurant that, if not quite Zahav, is as close as we get. The old school Mediterranean cooking of Simon Elmaleh has been replaced by the new school Mediterranean cooking of Danny. It’s got to be said — the son also rises.
Danny found fame as the chef at the stylish Cleo Restaurant in the Redbury Hotel in Hollywood. But as a hotel restaurant on Vine Street, it didn’t have the sort of cult following he found in Sherman Oaks, where his storefront restaurant seems to be busy pretty much all the time.
It’s not a big space; show up without a reservation, and about all you can hope for is a seat at the counter that faces the kitchen. Which is a good place to sit, if you want to watch the cooks assembling a multitude of ingredients into dishes that are unexpectedly elegant. This is a down-home cuisine, raised to properly served proportions. It can be a bit of cognitive dissonance.
The cooking is Danny’s take on the food he (and we) have been eating for years. The sumac fries — so crispy, so delicious — are flavored with a spicy vegan garlic sauce made in-house. The near perfect hummus — an essential dish, no matter what else you order — comes closer to garbanzo-flavored cream than a gritty dip. It’s served with wonderful Iraqi laffa flatbread, like a pita that’s learned some lessons about the joy of flavor in a dish that can be, in the wrong hands, just a pancake.
The menu has evolved over the years. These days, there are hen of the woods mushrooms in green aioli, rather than eggplant tahini with pickled Fresno chiles. There’s Moroccan chicken with harissa aioli rather than Moroccan carrots with a spicy harissa sauce made in-house, along with orange zest and yogurt — and, of all things, crispy quinoa.
If you thought you knew falafel, you haven’t tasted Chef Elmaleh’s version made with pickled fennel. There’s zaatar in the crispy broccoli; and shawarma spicy in the fried cauliflower as well, another essential dish. This is as creative a menu as you’ll find in Los Angeles — which says much, for this is a city that’s re-creating cuisines all the time.
The plates are substantial, with many appetizers priced under $10, and only two entrées that climb over $20. This is a tribute to Simon the father, by Danny the son. It does much to honor the cooking of a very talented family; Danny is a chip off the old block — or, to be metaphorically more appropriate, a chip off the old pita. And his baba ghanoush with charred eggplant is as good as anything I’ve eaten at Zahav.
Mizlala is a tribute to the joys of understatement. Your expectations may be minor; your pleasure will be major.
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
