Mary Pickford: If you have mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.
Meryl Streep: Integrate what you believe in every single area of your life. Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else, too.
YAYA'S; 2424 Van Ness Avenue (415) 440-0455;yayacuisine.com. Shalom to Yahya Salih, 54-year-old ("old and tired")who has recently sold his 2-year-old cult favorite Mesopotamian restaurant. It will reopen in the Spring as a French restaurant. The sweet, gracious, fun-loving chef-owner will close his doors, disheartening the adventurous diners who love the intimacy of this beautiful place decked out with murals of 300-year-old Babylonia.
Yaya's is the victim of 3 things: Location, location, location. And the concomitant parking problems faced by people who drive, whether they're from Carmel, West Portal, East Bay, or Marin. Who doesn't love the amazing Iraqi and Middle Eastern dishes? You have one month to make reservations before Yahya shutters his establishment. The chef believes that the more you are blessed, the more you should give back. It's heartbreaking news that SF will lose this gem on the edge of Cow Hollow and its chef versed in the basics of Iraqi cooking. Good luck & Shalom!
Many dishes (dolmas & kababs) are his Mom's recipes. Here are my recommendations:
Start with the Mesopotamian Salad made with mixed greens, cucumber, red & green onions, tomato, feta cheese with sumac & rose water vinaigrette. (5.50)
Also, the Fatoosh is excellent with sumac marinated onions, mint, parsley, cilantro and toasted pita bread with a light mustard vinaigrette.(5.50)
The pomegranate Chicken Breast Nomad: Fetta: Marinated and cooked chicken breast with roasted red bell, and eggplant in a pomegranate, and yogurt. Fesenjoon: Marinated and cooked Chicken breast with pomegranate molasses, walnuts, and fresh herbs sauce. Keysee: Marinated and cooked chicken breast in apricot and pomegranate cause, and almonds. All three are delicious and surrounded by saffron bulgur, and salata. (15).
Dolmas (15) are rated by Zagat as the "best in the cosmos." Try them and see! For dessert, try the Kanafa which is hot shredded phyllodough stuffed with Middle Eastern cheese topped with pistachio and date syrup! Delightful and big enough to share!
Woody Allen used to be astounded by people who want to "know" the universe when, he said, "it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown."
I hope you all walk, jog, run, crawl to YaYa's for the final hurrah. Or take a cab-- just don't drive if you don't need to! Shalom!
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