Philadelphia, PA - The hospitality experts behind Fishtown’s ROOT Restaurant & Wine Bar and Northern Liberties’ Café La Maude announced today their plans to open Fishtown’s newest restaurant venture: Suraya - market, restaurant and outdoor garden.
The Levantine eatery will draw on the historically culinarily intertwined region that consists of Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Israel, Palestine and Egypt. Suraya will use Lebanon as its starting point, and explore outward. It will occupy Frankford to Front St., at 1528 Frankford Ave, totaling 10,000 square feet.
- The Market: At Suraya’s market, the traditional Levantine Bazaar meets the modern-day all day café. Suraya’s market will boast a variety of spices, imported and local food items, prepared foods and small menu a la carte items (including the Lebanese staple manousheh), designed to take-out or eat-in. Suraya’s market will also feature a full Stumptown Coffee Roasters coffee bar. Wine, beer and cocktails will also be available. The market is set to open late summer 2017.
- The Dining Room: Experience an authentic taste of Beirut in Suraya’s dining room with a menu of small and large shared plates that celebrate the complex, multicultural flavor profiles that make up Levantine cuisine. Restaurant guests can expect a vibrant energy and an eat-with-your-hands dining etiquette, mimicking a true Middle Eastern dining experience. The dining room will boast an open kitchen featuring a 12-foot custom charcoal grill, and is set to open early fall 2017.
- The Garden: Transcend into the lush outdoor oasis that is Suraya’s backyard. The open-air garden will evoke a vibrant, fun energy within a communal space, while its menu will include Suraya’s bevy of mezze and bespoke cocktails available within all three spaces, including the official drink of Lebanon, Arak, an unsweetened anise-flavored alcohol Aperitif. Suraya’s Garden to open early fall 2017.
The hospitality powerhouse, comprised of Greg Root, Nick Kennedy, and Nathalie Richan, ideated Suraya’s restaurant concept years ago, waiting for the perfect space to become available for the three-in-one culinary venture.
“Nick and I have always spoken the same language and shared the same core values when it comes to understanding the time, energy and acute attention to detail it takes to open and successfully operate a restaurant,” explains Greg Root, Co-Owner with Nick Kennedy at ROOT Restaurant & Wine Bar. “Nathalie’s rich cultural heritage, paired with her extensive firsthand knowledge of Levantine cuisine, naturally completed our trio.”
Suraya will be the largest, most dynamic and complex restaurant the team has owned and operated to date. The welcoming and hospitality-driven environment found at ROOT Restaurant & Wine Bar and Café La Maude will be mirrored at Suraya, intending for the Levant-inspired fare to serve as an equalizer, ultimately bringing neighborhood residents and visitors alike together through food.
Suraya is expected to open late summer 2017. To learn more about Suraya, visit www.surayaphilly.com.