By David Landis–
How many people, much less businesses, much less restaurants, make it to their 40th anniversary? Not a lot. Which is why it makes celebrating this seminal milestone for La Méditerranée on Noe in the Castro even more festive.
As a San Francisco youngster in the ’80s, yours truly remembers how groundbreaking the Castro’s La Med (as the locals call it) was—and still is. Who had heard of Mediterranean, Lebanese, and Armenian foods back then? Their delicious and unique offerings made for something completely different, tasty, and yet still affordable.
Luckily, that winning combination is still the case. The Gay Gourmet caught up with La Med Noe’s dynamic owner, Alicia Vanden Heuvel, to find out the secret to the restaurant’s success.
“Levon Der Bedrossian opened La Méditerranée in 1979. David Wright was the first server on Fillmore (he was also the drummer with The Flaming Groovies!),” she told me for the San Francisco Bay Times. “He, Ellen Sinaiko, and Levon opened the Noe Street restaurant together in 1981. Levon’s motto was always that, ‘The smallest things make the biggest differences.’ That’s the company motto that Levon and David carried forth thru La Med’s existence: that the quality of the delicious food should be at reasonable prices, served with casual friendly service. Customers should feel welcome. Additionally, La Med cares for their employees as much as their customers, having offered health and dental benefits before mandated by the city. As a result, we’ve had servers from 3–20 years. Our longest server has been there for 24 years!”
“I started as a server 1997,” continued Vanden Heuvel, “and worked my way up to managing the Fillmore store. David and Levon were my mentors. They taught me everything about running the restaurant. When David ‘retired,’ I moved up to General Manager, managing both restaurants, and became a partner. With Ellen and Levon’s retirement—his son Vanick Der Bedrossian has been our executive chef since 2011—Vanick has taken the mantle of the Fillmore Store and I took over the mantle at the Noe location.”
“Levon is still deeply involved, here 2–3 times a week, checking out recipes,” she added. “We’re still a partnership. It’s a family-run restaurant where the family has been extended to staff members. Caring for their employees has always been a hallmark and inspired such loyalty and goodwill with employees and in the community. Our core value is to be a bright spot in the community. Over the years, we’ve donated to the Frameline Film Festival, the SF Film Festival, and have partnered with Casa de las Madres and Shanti, local school auctions, and service organizations like the LGBTQ Asylum Project in the Castro. We’ve also been part of the city’s program to serve seniors with box lunches this past year, and we’ve donated to first responders at the hospitals with a program called #FeedTheLines.”
So, what’s in store for the 40th Anniversary?
“We’ll be having a celebration on September 9th—a fundraiser for a local charity,” explained Vanden Heuvel. “One of our friends, Vera, is a drag king with the Southeast Asian drag society. We’ll invite them to perform at the party. We’ll have the performance in front of the windows so that folks can sit outside. We haven’t opened for indoor dining yet. Mask mandates make it uncertain. We’ll send out a newsletter that if we are celebrating with indoor dining, to bring proof of vaccination. Right now, with COVID, it’s about taking care of the health and safety of our customers and our staff as well. It’s so important to put that as your first priority. We have plenty of seating outside.”
The Gay Gourmet hadn’t visited La Med since the pandemic and was surprised to see a beautifully-landscaped and expanded outdoor patio dining area. Vanden Heuvel explained that The Lookout and Jeffrey’s Natural Pet Foods were nice enough to share their outdoor parking and all 3 businesses have outdoor activities as a result.
“Because of our expanded outdoor dining,” Vanden Heuvel said, “I feel we’re more connected to our street and neighbors. You’re the eyes and ears of the block—keeping it clean, getting to know the names of neighbors and homeless people who need help. It also helps you mitigate risk.”
So, you might ask, how’s the food?
The Gay Gourmet is always partial to the Middle Eastern plate at lunch because you get to sample a number of different items. Each plate comes with your choice of soup, salad, or Armenian potato salad. On my last occasion there, all 3 in our party ordered that special. We tried the always-creamy hummus with pita bread, the tasty chicken celicia fillo (with a hint of cinnamon), the must-have cheese karni fillo, the satisfying spinach and feta cheese fillo and the melt-in-your mouth (and gluten-free) lamb lule.
The special soup that day was one of The Gay Gourmet’s favorites, cream of broccoli soup—bursting with chunks of broccoli and light, yet velvety (made with real cream and not a drop of corn starch anywhere!). One member of our party tried the tasty cold cucumber soup and raved. The ever-present Avgolemono Greek lemon rice soup (with chicken) is another fan favorite, always on the menu. By the glass, we imbibed with a clean, dry Pinot Grigio and a Chardonnay that has all the buttery tones one would expect.
For dessert, we sampled the pistachio nest—a kind of baklava with pistachios instead of walnuts that was yummy—and muhalabiye, a light, rosewater pudding with pistachios. Both were a delectable ending to the meal. Our server, David, couldn’t have been more helpful and fun, making us feel like guests at his own personal party.
The Gay Gourmet asked: Who’s responsible for the recipes?
“The recipes come from Levon’s family recipes—Armenian and Lebanese dishes that his grandmother and family used to make,” explained Vanden Heuvel. “Everything is made from scratch daily, so it’s an experience. We work with local, sustainable meat companies like Superior Farms for our lamb. We can negotiate good pricing because we have 3 restaurants (Noe, Fillmore, and Berkeley) and the catering kitchen. We understand that those things have a cost. But we want to behave responsibly to the environment and the community by making choices to keep people coming back, so it’s within reach of working families. Looking to the long term is part of it.”
The Gay Gourmet has always thought of La Med as having the perfect party offerings; it’s finger food and the ideal size. Plus, the flavors and spices make for something different than your typical party fare. My husband and I have hired La Med for numerous parties at our home. I asked Alicia: How big is your catering business?
“I really promoted the growth of our catering business online from the Fillmore Street store,” says Vanden Heuvel. “Catering counts for about 40% of our business in a typical year. We offer delicious, reasonable food for local, private events of all kinds: weddings, bar mitzvahs, corporate events, celebrations of life, and more. Food is something that people come together around. You want delicious food, not cookie-cutter. The reliability of the party platter being high quality means people aren’t disappointed. Ordering for your own party or your office, people want to be reassured that it’s dependable. We were voted ‘Best Caterer’ in the readers’ poll in The Examiner and the SF Weekly polls in 2019. In 2020, we had to lay off our events staff and close our catering office. Events were no more for this past year. Luckily, they’ve started to come back. We’re catering our first wedding. People who put off celebrations of life, it’s been heartwarming to be honored to cater those events for people separated from their loved ones for so long.”
Besides the anniversary, what’s next for LaMed?
“La Med is a place that has purpose and a connection to the community,” touted Vanden Heuvel. “Our reputation makes me feel hopeful for the future. People still move here to San Francisco for diversity and acceptance. The Castro community is stronger than ever. We’re not going anywhere.”
Bits and Bites
Canela, also in the Castro, will celebrate its 10th anniversary September 26 from 3–5 pm. Chef Mat Schuster will be frying fresh churros and serving up bubbles, sangria, and wine in the parklet. You can also fill up a bag of sweets from Canela’s artisan candy bar to take home. But while it’s still summer, try their delicious butter lettuce salad, featuring Early Girl tomatoes, pickled carrots, Persian cucumbers, seed mix, dried apricots, and blood orange vinaigrette. Other summertime specials include a melon gazpacho and Romano beans with corn.
Another Castro favorite, The Lookout, hosts Carnie Asada’s weekly drag brunch. There are 2 shows every Saturday starting at 12 pm & 2 pm. Check before going for details. For reservations, email: lookoutDragBrunch@gmail.com
Food & Wine magazinenamed the best hamburger in every state and guess who won in California? None other than another Gay Gourmet favorite, Zuni Café. We recently visited and its parklet is pristine and 5-star, with charming views of the passing streetcars on Market Street from all over the world. The café’s iconic burger, served on freshly-baked focaccia with house-made pickles (don’t forget to order their shoestring fries—the best in town!), has always been a winner, baby!
Michelin’s statewide list of “new discoveries” includes the following Bay Area restaurants: Horn Barbecue (Oakland), Marlena (SF), Top Hatters Kitchen (San Leandro), 3rd Cousin (SF), Aurum (Los Altos), Reve Bistro (Lafayette), Routier (SF), North Block (Yountville), Khom Loi (Sebastopol) and Ettan (Palo Alto). Congratulations to all!
Cliff House Redux: From the San Francisco Chronicle: “The National Park Service issued a temporary permit that will allow San Francisco nonprofit Western Neighborhoods Project to install a pop-up museum inside the famed Cliff House to commemorate the building’s history. The Cliff House has been closed to the public since the restaurant there was shuttered at the end of 2020. The display will be up by October. Too bad there won’t be any of the Cliff House’s famed ‘popovers’ to go along with it.”
Top Chef Season 18 Meet & Greet: On September 14 from 4–6 pm, you can meet Top Chef’s Season 18 cheftestants Maria Mazon, chef/owner of BOCA Tacos y Tequila in Tuscon, Nelson German, chef/owner of Sobre Mesa and alaMar in Oakland (and recently profiled by The Gay Gourmet), and finalist Dawn Burrell of Houston’s forthcoming Late August restaurant. The event begins at the Moxy Oakland Downtown with a Q&A panel moderated by Chef Tu David Phu, Top Chef Season 15 contestant, to follow from 5 to 5:30 pm. Cocktails, including Chef German’s popular Guava Margarita from alaMar, and Moxy’s signature flatbreads will be available for purchase. Free to attend. No registration necessary. Chefs Mazon, German, and Burrell will collaborate on a prix fixe meal on September 16 at Sobre Mesa in Oakland. The registration link will be on the Sobre Mesa Instagram page.
And, lastly, for Broadway fans looking for a place to eat before Hamilton (which has returned to the Orpheum through September 5), the new Latin-Caribbean restaurant Chao Pescao on McAllister Street offers a Burr-ger & Burr-bon special (get it? Think Aaron Burr!) as well as a specialty cocktail and fixed price pre-theater menu.
La Méditerranée: https://cafelamed.com/
Canela: https://canelasf.com/
The Lookout: http://www.lookoutsf.com/
Jeffrey’s Natural Pet Foods: https://www.jeffreyspets.com/
Zuni Café: http://zunicafe.com/
Food and Wine Best Burgers: https://tinyurl.com/v5ry96f6
Chao Pescao: https://www.chaopescaosf.com/
Cliff House redux: http://ow.ly/KC4I50FPWbf
Moxy Oakland: https://tinyurl.com/ys5snx8d
Sobre Mesa: https://www.sobremesaoak.com/
Horn Barbecue Oakland: https://www.hornbarbecue.com/
Marlena: https://www.marlenarestaurant.com/
Routier: https://routiersf.com/
3rd Cousin: https://www.3rdcousinsf.com/
David Landis, aka “The Gay Gourmet,” is a foodie, a freelance writer and a PR executive. Follow him on Instagram @GayGourmetSF, on Twitter @david_landis, email him at: david@landispr.com or visit him online at: www.gaygourmetsf.com
Published on August 26, 2021
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