A Palestinian Jordanian Chef Finds a Taste of Home in a Shopping Plaza in Revere

In an inconspicuous shopping plaza in Revere, next to a Subway, across from a Pizza Hut, and not too far from a Registry of Motor Vehicles office, lies a Moroccan-owned grocery store, Sayar Market, and a Lebanese cafe and bakery, Beyrut Espresso. This past spring, I exhaled a sigh of relief as I realized I had stumbled upon a camouflaged nook with a reliable supply of North African and Levantine provisions. As a Palestinian Jordanian chef who grew up in Amman and now lives in Boston, seeking out Levantine stores is a lifeline to feeling close to home, especially around significant Muslim holidays like Eid al-Adha, a celebration that honors sacrifice and generosity through the giving of red meat, often lamb, to community members who can’t afford it.

Laila Ibrahim/Eater Boston

I stepped into Sayar Market and, next to the once-familiar fresh grape leaves, I found a cardboard box cascading with hamleh, an Arabic word that translates to “the plant that carries,” referring to the multiple pods each nestling fresh green chickpeas. When roasted and seasoned generously with salt, it is a popular street food in Jordan during springtime. Many Jordanian kids, myself included, pestered the bus driver to stop along the side of the road for the street carts selling the roasted legume. In fairness, it didn’t take much convincing as the bus driver welcomed the compulsive snack as he made the slow route back to our homes.

As I made my way across the store to the halal butcher counter, I found an ample supply of freshly cut meats along with more animal parts such as lamb kidneys (a rare find in America) and chicken gizzards. Near the meat section and across the jugs of olive oil is an expansive dairy section. Wading through dizzying assortments of tahini, fruit molasses, and pickles, I couldn’t help but linger in the aisles, passing by the occasional tagine for sale. I realized I hadn’t seen this much variety of Arabic provisions before in the Boston area. I examined the shelves of pantry staples I grew up with like za’atar, dates, and maqdous, pickled eggplants stuffed with walnuts. I left with my heavy grocery bags in hand feeling sentimental and excited for all the snacks to come.

Laila Ibrahim/Eater Boston

Sayar Market opened in Revere in 2013 after the owner, Younes Sayar, left the taxi business to open a grocery store that catered to local Arab and Muslim communities. He believed those communities deserved access to stores as varied as everyday American grocery stores. Despite initially being dissuaded by his soon-to-be landlord, who said that shopping centers like this one mostly rent out to chains, he nonetheless charmed the man with his calm yet confident demeanor. The landlord, who Sayar says told him he was the first Muslim he had ever met, wanted to give him a fair shot at executing his vision.

Laila Ibrahim/Eater Boston

Sayar wanted to open the store because of his frustration with the cumbersome solutions immigrants often resort to in response to the scarcity of familiar provisions: either lug a mini-grocery store of a suitcase stuffed with za’atar, candy, and spices from back home or ask someone else to lug it for you. Sayar also processes his nostalgic aches through the market. He proudly recounts how he was able to bring in Hawaii soda, an orange-colored tropical drink that’s treasured in the hearts of Moroccans. “There was a time this drink was but a memory of the past but now it’s finally here,” he says.

11 years in, Sayar’s vision to create a space that caters to the local Arab and Muslim communities isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Sayar Market expanded in Revere in 2015 and then opened a larger location in Norwood in 2020. He has plans to expand the Revere location further and open a third location in Waltham as well.

Two doors down from Sayar Market, just past the Subway sign advertising footlong pretzels, is Beyrut Espresso. Its window signs showcase falafel and hummus; inside, ornate and colorful coffee sets line the tops of display cases holding sticky sweet Levantine sweets like baklava next to American cheesecakes and tiramisus made from scratch. “There needed to be a space for Middle Eastern people,” owner Linda Fayad says in a soft-spoken yet direct manner. She moved from Lebanon over 20 years ago with a passion for making sweets. Driven by that vision, she opened Beyrut Espresso in 2021, offering only a coffee and sweets menu.

Laila Ibrahim/Eater Boston

Laila Ibrahim/Eater Boston

About six months into opening, after repeated requests from her customers for beloved savory items, she saw an opportunity to expand her menu to include items like za’atar mana’eesh, falafel, and shawarma. Fayad even extended past her Levantine kitchen to include iconic Moroccan dishes like couscous and bastilla (chicken pies that are both savory and sweet). Along with all her other offerings, Fayad makes Moroccan breads that are sold at Sayar Market, a show of neighborly comradery between the two shops.

It is important for Fayad to give her local community a sense of home, she says. She goes as far as ordering ma’amoul, or decorative semolina cookies filled with a spiced date or nut mixture, straight from Lebanon for the holidays. From Eid to Easter, no holiday in the Levant is complete without a box of these ghee and anise-scented cookies on the table.

With Eid al-Adha starting on June 16, both establishments are busy with customers eager to stock up on sweets, dates, and fresh mint for Moroccan tea. During this time of year, the two stores are lit up with crescent moons and stars, symbols of holiday celebrations in the Muslim world. Fayad prepares for bakery preorders and Sayar ensures the market is well stocked.

While the location might not conjure up romantic images of crowded souqs —open food markets with grand displays of colorful spices in embellished burlap sacks — its nondescript nature somehow adds to the magic rather than takes away from it. The stores are two gems hiding in plain sight somewhere in a shopping plaza, right off the highway in Revere.