A first look at the new Zaytinya cookbook!

A summer treat just for you

Hola my friends, 

I am so excited to share with you that my new cookbook, ZAYTINYA: Delicious Mediterranean Dishes from Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon is now available for pre-order! Its official publication date is March 19th, 2024, but you are the first people to see the cover! What do you think? Isn’t it beautiful? It’s one of the first dishes we put on the menu in DC, the Horta Salata, an amazing salad of greens tossed in ladolemono—a lemony, garlicky Greek salad dressing—on a bed of golden saffron-pea puree and topped with smoked olives and toasted pistachios. If you’ve had it at Zaytinya, you know how good it is…and soon you’ll be able to get the recipe!

The book is full of our favorite dishes from Zaytinya, a restaurant that spans the Eastern Mediterranean from Greece to Lebanon and Turkey. This is a region that I am in love with because of its food, its people, and especially its history. It’s so fascinating to me that all of these ancient cultures are tied together and share so many of the same ingredients, dishes, and traditions.

Cover photo by Thomas Schauer. Cover Design by Mucho. Published by Ecco.

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This book is a tribute to this history and our 20 years of experiences and recipes of Zaytinya, which opened in Washington, DC in 2002, and its Manhattan outpost which opened in 2022 in The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad. 

The goal in creating this book was similar to the vision we have when we open a restaurant, to honor the traditions, cultures, history, and stories that come from a place and a community.

There are so many people who helped make this restaurant and this book. As I have shared before, so much of the soul of Zaytinya comes from our dear partner and friend Aglaia Kremezi, who I met over two decades ago when I took a trip to Kea, the beautiful island in the Aegean Sea where she lives. She has been part of our story from day one and still is. And this book could not have been written without our Concept Chef Michael Costa, who has been with us for 13 years, and who not only travels through Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon, but also makes visits to Aglaia’s cooking school to work on recipes with her. Also, our amazing friend and photographer Thomas Schauer, and so many more friends and team members! THANK YOU! 

I can't wait for you to explore the book and cook from the 150 recipes we have included—from crispy, fried vegetables and the freshest seafood, to the meaty kebabs and warm fluffy pita, these dishes are simply irresistible. We included many of the favorites our guests (you!) are always asking for: Htipiti, red pepper and feta spread, Havuç Köftesi, carrot fritters with an amazing pistachio sauce, our Crispy Brussels Sprouts Afelia, the Adana Kebabs, and the rich and savory Turkish lamb and eggplant dish called Hünkar Beğendi. I think you are going to want to cook from this book!

Of course we also included recipes for our desserts, like our Greek Yogurt Parfait with Apricot that has been on our menu since day one, as well as three amazing Greek cookies: Amygdalota, chewy-crunchy almond cookies; Melomakarona, warm-spiced Christmas cookies dipped in honey; and Koularakia, twisted Easter cookies that we brush in a nutty brown butter.

We also share some of our favorite cocktails from the restaurant, like Sidecar to Tangier, made from spice-infused Greek metaxa, with orange liqueur, honey, and lemon, and our Pom Fili, a Greek-inspired sangria made with red wine, vodka, orange liqueur , and pomegranate that we serve by the carafe (and now you can too)!

To me, Zaytinya is like a Longer Tables menu. We are finding the shared flavors and dishes across a region where people often think of their differences…there's more we have in common than what separates us. If you love Zaytinya, and the delicious food of the Eastern Mediterranean, I hope you will pre-order the book now…and maybe get one for a friend too!