Za-atar, saffron threads, harissa and sumac are definitely not ingredients that featured prominently in my childhood meals. Meat and potatos (and the smelly canned green peas which pleased only my father) graced our dinner table.
I am still surprised that I, a most famously picky eater as a child, would yearn for the foods that Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi present in their gorgeous cookbooks, Plenty and Jerusalem, which feature a riotous, delicious fusion of Syrian, Turkish, Lebanese, Iranian, Israeli and Armenian foods. In search of ingredients, I found Sofra Bakery and Eastern Lamejun Bakery, in the nearby Belmont/Cambridge area. A half mile separates the two food stores, and both carry many of the same staples one needs for Middle Eastern cooking, but Eastern Lamejun is by far the more accessible.
It’s too bad, because Sofra has the added benefit of serving delicious breakfasts, lunches and take-out food, including their home-made sauces and baked desserts. Although technically wheelchair-accessible (there is a ramp, the door is wide enough for electric chair entry and there is an accessible bathroom), the owners have placed bars in the middle of the room (the better to display wares and for stand-up dining) so that there is no true wheelchair access. The path to the bathroom is further blocked by a long couch and low tables and chairs, so you would inconvenience about 1/2 dozen diners if you were to seek passage. There is one table that is of the right height for a wheelchair, but it is wedged into a corner…and so, not truly accessible.
The interior is inviting, rich colors and hand-painted menus draw your eye, as do the stacks and piles of exotic looking prepared foods, spice packages and jarred delicacies, daily mezze plates… but you’re better off making a phone call and seeing if they’ll deliver to your car (there is a handicap spot directly out in front of the store).
Eastern Lamejun, an Armenian bakery, makes their own pita bread and hummus (the Arev brand), which are both exceptional. My friends and I make special pilgrimages there monthly for sfeeha (Lebanese meat pies) and other Middle Eastern staples on the prepared food shelves. All the spices, nuts, beans and grains you require to work magic in your kitchen are here. In contrast to Sofra’s studied atmosphere, this bakery is all business. The food is every bit as enticing, but there are no attempts to lure you in; I imagine the shoppers here know what they want, how much it should cost, and seek to transact their business efficiently (maybe exchanging courtesies with the lovely Arabic-speaking ladies behind the counter).
Two very different places. Both alluring, both stocked with most of your Middle Eastern cooking needs. Only one is truly open to the wheelchair-traveller.
TBW has to ask: Is Sofra’s ramp just for show? Why bother inviting a wheelchair traveller in to your store, only to place significant barriers at every turn? I think I prefer no accessibility at all to faux accessibility.