Huda New Levantine Bistro
Bistro · Williamsburg ·
Levantine bistro serving sharable plates like lamb meatballs and eggplant
Levantine bistro serving sharable plates like lamb meatballs and eggplant
"A Levantine bistro in Williamsburg with a beer list that is "small but carefully chosen." There might be a sumac and sour cherry gose that "plays up the sour cherries in the kebab karaz," while a crisp lager, balanced with Persian blue salt, "offsets the tang of the smoked labne." Both are made by Back Home Beer, a Persian and woman-owned beer brand that produces on Staten Island. The decision to serve Back Home Beer was influenced by shared points of view: Zahra Tabatabai makes beers "inspired by the ones her grandfather brewed in Iran." The owner notes that "She’s taking recipes that her family had back home and applying them here in the city," a parallel to the restaurant's culinary approach. The beverage program is also expanding into arak — an anise liquor typically distilled from grapes — with the goal to introduce diners to different flavor profiles and to "start building that knowledge base," and the menu even includes a Yonkers-distilled version of the Persian spirit, aragh sagi, made with raisins." - Bettina Makalintal
"A charming neighborhood spot that bills itself as a "new Levantine bistro," where the squid is lightly charred and perfectly tender and is elevated by its accompaniments: served next to a dollop of hummus, topped with a bright and garlicky "broken olive" vinaigrette, and finished with a squeeze of lemon. Paired with a sumac gose on a hot July night, the dish is described as feeling like the essence of summer." - Eater Staff
"Summer Sundays @ Huda / Sundays, May 5-August 25; 6:30pm One of our favorite new restaurants of the year serves food from the Levant, like batata harra and shish Barak. Starting on May 5, they’ll be hosting a summer series at their East Williamsburg restaurant, with film screenings and live performances that highlight the region's creative community. Film screenings are free, and live performances have a small fee that goes 100% to the artists. Check out their calendar here, and read our review so you know what to order. " - neha talreja
"Huda, from the owner of the decades-old Manhattan bistro La Bonne Soupe, opened in Williamsburg last fall. The restaurant serves bistro dishes with Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian influences, like baked branzino with muhammara and shish barak dumplings remixed as beef tortellini." - Luke Fortney, Eater Staff
"In Williamsburg, the 60‑seat Huda — in the former Edith’s Eatery — presents an ivory front with tinted windows and potted plants; the main dining room doubles as a barroom with a mottled-brown marble bar, two‑thirds table seating with nice wall treatments and complicated lighting, and a long hallway that leads to a more intimate dining room. Syrian-born owner Gehad Hadidi (who has run Midtown’s La Bonne Soupe since 2019) teams with chef Omneyah Hassan, of Egyptian descent and formerly at Celestine and Pasquale Jones; the compact menu offers about 15 dishes with no divisions plus three desserts. I didn’t love the grilled squid and hummus ($23), where the hummus was pale and almost soupy and the pairing didn’t quite work for me, but Huda’s batata hara ($14) — deep-fried potatoes like shredded wheat with harissa and herbed labne — is moist, not oily, and richly flavorful. Their kibbeh nayeh ($27) uses bright-red raw ground beef mixed with homemade harissa and bulgur, but the harissa and bulgur are nearly undetectable and the dish tastes much like French steak tartare, which is not unexpected given the La Bonne Soupe connection. The msakhan (whole boned branzino) is seasoned with sumac and served on fresh flatbread with too little tahini; splayed for easy eating, it reads more like a pot pie than a fresh fish but is still quite good. Huda has many memorable features of its own and is worth trying even if my overall preference leans toward Sawa." - Robert Sietsema
