This interview originally aired on In the Moment on SDPB Radio.
Sanaa Abourezk had her reservations about moving to the Midwest. And people doubted her when she decided to open a Mediterranean restaurant in Sioux Falls that specialized in vegetarian, vegan and healthy food.
But after almost 20 years, Sanaa's Gourmet Mediterranean is one of the most popular restaurants in the city and Abourezk is a finalist for the prestigious James Beard Awards.
She joins In the Moment to recount her culinary journey and how she's shaped the Sioux Falls community—and how it's shaped her.
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Lori Walsh:
You're listening to In The Moment on South Dakota Public Broadcasting. I'm your host, Lori Walsh. Well, one of the most prestigious culinary awards in the country has taken notice of one Sioux Falls kitchen, Sanaa Abourezk is a finalist for Best Chef Midwest Award from the James Beard Foundation, and she returns to our studios. Thank you so much, Sanaa. Welcome.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Thank you for having me.
Lori Walsh:
And congratulations.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Thank you very much.
Lori Walsh:
I think the last time you were here, I said this, but it's worth saying again. I think I have been talking to you about this restaurant on the radio and in print for print publications for quite some time.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Yes.
Lori Walsh:
You said you opened Sanaa's 19, 20 years ago.
Sanaa Abourezk:
19, yep.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah.
Sanaa Abourezk:
At Thanksgiving it will be 19 years.
Lori Walsh:
Yes. And 19 years ago, Sioux Falls was not the same town from a culinary standpoint. You helped make it the town that it is.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Thank you. I'd like to think so. Yes. Thank you.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. Did you know at the time?
Sanaa Abourezk:
No. No, actually. We were going to restaurant and in my mind I kept saying, "Ah, I wish they had this. I wish they can do this." So I knew there was a need for this kind of food, the way we do it. Anyway, then I took the leap and everybody thought I'm totally out of my mind. I proved them wrong. 19 years.
Lori Walsh:
19 years. And a finalist for James Beard.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Yes.
Lori Walsh:
One of the things that was unique about what you were offering was that it was healthy.
Sanaa Abourezk:
It's healthy, made from scratch using olive oil. We have no fryer. I think we are one of the few restaurants in the country that we literally have no fryer. No ketchup. We don't fry. And no chips. No french fries. And that's why people thought, this is South Dakota, you're not going to survive.
Lori Walsh:
A lot of vegan options, a lot of vegetarian options. Gluten-free options.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Gluten-free. Yes. I mean, we do everything from scratch. When you do everything from scratch, it's easy to accommodate all allergies. No peanuts, no peanut oil. So I take pride that when somebody walk in the restaurant and then my staff call me, they said she has allergies or he has allergies. And I say, okay, tell me what's your energy? And he said, oh, you can't feed me. I said, well, tell me. So then he list or she list, I say, "Okay, we can fix this for them." And he say, "You mean I can eat?" I say, "Yeah, absolutely. You can eat." So yeah.
Lori Walsh:
Your training, cooking school in Florence, Italy, Cordon Bleu in Paris, a nutrition degree in California.
Sanaa Abourezk:
From California, Cal State Pomona, and agricultural engineering from Damascus University. So for me, me actually, I feel all these degrees are related. As a farmer's daughter and as a agriculture engineer, I know what it takes to have this fresh produce for you. Weather-wise, work-wise, everything. And then as a dietitian, I know what effect on your body. And then as a chef, I need to make it tasty enough that you're willing to enjoy it. So it's all a circle.
Lori Walsh:
That's one whole aspect of Sanaa. And then there is this aspect of love and family and food and dancing in the face of hardship, like families who've been in war torn countries who've suffered in earthquakes, the recent death of your husband, grief, loss. And there you are in the kitchen, putting your hands in the bowl and feeding us still. I'm going to get emotional, but there you are, feeding us still through all of that in our lives and in yours.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Okay. Family overseas with the war, basically I was their stone. They're having hard time. They're still having hard time, whether it's earthquake, they still have aftershock and the economy because of the sanction, the war. But then we call, when we talk to each other, I'm doing good. And they know they have their support. I'm there for them. I mean, I'm proud not only me and my brother too, that we are doing everything we can to make them go through life. And I wouldn't say untouched, but surviving the circumstances. With COVID, I found people were depressed, lonely and so that's why I started dancing. As a joke to make people laugh and people responded. So that's why I kept it, same with the vegetable on my face and everything. Some people, including my mom, she thought I'm crazy. But when I got an email or message, "Oh, you made me laugh. You made my day. I laugh so hard." It made my day. It gave me comfort. And then through my husband's sickness, he was my champion. And he would go to my restaurant, and he has his own table. So for me, also, I felt like I'm honoring him. And he loved food. I mean, he loved food. So for me, it's like this is all part of giving and taking back because it's making me feel comfortable and happy and alive.
Lori Walsh:
For people who haven't been here. And I guess we should say, former US Senator Jim Abourezk is Sanaa's husband who recently died. You walk into Sanaa's, you are greeted with the smells, the beautiful smells. Many... I know for me, growing up here in the Midwest, I had never smelled these smells before. So they were new.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Yes.
Lori Walsh:
And interesting. There's color, there's art, and then there's a table right up front that's big and round and says reserved. And that was for-
Sanaa Abourezk:
He actually bought the table.
Lori Walsh:
Did he?
Sanaa Abourezk:
Because when he first start coming with his friends, they kept moving my small tables, and then the noise just drove me nuts. So I said, Jim, stop moving the tables. He said, "Oh, we want to sit together." Oh no. And he call it the thinking table, or doesn't matter what's your political view, as long as you can defend it, you're welcome to sit on that table. So everybody was welcome. And finally he said, "Well, what about if I bought my own table?" I said, "Okay, go ahead." So he bought the table. So that's his table. He bought the table for him.
Lori Walsh:
You've cooked against Bobby Flay. You've had national attention before. What does the James Beard Award, as a finalist, mean to you in this culinary journey that you have?
Sanaa Abourezk:
Well, the James Beard Award is almost like the Oscars. For us as a chef the James Beard, Oscars is for actors. So you can be so good. But when you are get recognized by your own fellow, it's like an extra... how to say it? I don't want to say it's more than a compliment. It's more. It give you street credit between your fellow chef, between your customers. They know, okay, you have the best ever, the best food ever. But now you're recognized by the James Beard, so it's like pat on your back. What you're doing is good. Keep doing it.
Lori Walsh:
I am biased in this, but I think that the Midwesterners that come out for this award are more influential than a California chef or a New York chef or a Philadelphia chef because of the expectation in the broader nation that we are a place that grows food, but that doesn't necessarily innovate, reinvent or rethink how it is prepared and served. And so it always makes me feel-
Sanaa Abourezk:
You're right. You're absolutely right. Yes. The chefs in Midwest, first of all, we've been ignored for a long time. They call it the flyover zone. Jim gave me an article four years ago. It was a New York Times magazine that the guy was traveling to try food for different states. And he said then when he got to Minnesota, he decide to stop because he won't find anything in the Midwest. And I said "Ah..." And Jim intentionally gave it to me because he knew it'd make me really angry.
So we have this against us. Another thing is that also we have short growing season and we want to make the best of what we have. And then you are more challenged. Go to New York. You have one restaurant after the other, after the other, after the other, ethnic food, different ethnicity, from all over the world. But in the Midwest, you are more challenged to convince people to come and eat falafel, to come and eat tabouli. What's muhammara? Something they never experienced before. And you have to make it so good that they're willing to come back again. And that's the key to your survival.
Lori Walsh:
That's communication too.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Absolutely.
Lori Walsh:
For you, I mean, having been to your restaurant many times, you don't ever feel intimidated or excluded. You can literally go out to anyone there. But often, it's you. Often you will come out and say, "Well, what is it that you like? I will give you something that you can eat and I will give you something that you like."
Sanaa Abourezk:
Yeah. No, I mean, for me was crucial. When I open my restaurant, I want people to feel they're coming home. Literally, they're coming to their mom and pop. Because whenever I went to my mom, my family's home, food was always in the center. My mom has always something on the counter. So you nibble while you're talking to her. Then we're cooking together. We eat together. We had friend who walk in... immediately... Whether my mom knows they're hungry or not, she'll put some food, "Oh, you're traveling. Come on, you have to eat something." All this. "Oh, you're not hungry? Take it with you."
So I wanted to have a home. I don't want it to be intimidating. So I can easily make it so fancy plating and charge you $50. But I don't want to do that. I want them to feel like they're coming home, they're eating ingredient. It could be weird, but they're so at ease eating it. And they're not shy about asking me, so what's in it? I like it, but what's in it? They don't feel like you are looking down on them because they didn't recognize what's harissa or what's-
Lori Walsh:
Sure. Or you go back the next week and you say, "I want that thing that you gave me last week, but I still can't pronounce it."
Sanaa Abourezk:
Yes.
Lori Walsh:
And you'll just help us out. Which has made you a leader in a community.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Thank you.
Lori Walsh:
Culturally, as well as from a culinary standpoint. You have taught us not only how to eat, but how to treat one another.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Thank you. I mean, the community here, honestly, I think it was just a accident that after I said I do to Jim, he want to move to South Dakota, and I'm glad we did. At the beginning, I was nervous, but have I stayed in Washington, DC Probably I be working at job at the hospital or somewhere as a dietician. I'm so glad we moved here and gave me the courage to open. And people welcomed me. So I think it's... And I had my baby here. So any way you look at it, as if it's my family, honestly. And even my daughter, after the return from the James Peel Foundation, my husband's passing, she said, "Mom, I don't think you can move anywhere else. You have to retire here because of all the love you get."
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. I think, I don't know if you know this or not, but now you do a fair amount of... people take things out and catering or we'll bring it... There's a graduation and people say, what are we having? Oh, it's Sanaa's. It's your name.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Thank you.
Lori Walsh:
And everybody feels like you personally cooked it in the kitchen in which we're at, even though it's somebody's house on the other side of the... That's how powerful-
Sanaa Abourezk:
And that's, that's what make me feel so good.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. Some people would call that a brand, but I would just call it your name. It's an identity.
Sanaa Abourezk:
It is. And that's why we have it on the-
Lori Walsh:
... On the T-shirts. Yeah.
Sanaa Abourezk:
On the T-shirt. And on our food labels. I cook it. I still, after 19 years, I'm the one who cook everything. I have my staff, they prep for me. They make the dough. But I'm the one who still cook because I love it. I love being in the kitchen, cooking. I mean, that's my meditation. Even at home, I go home now and there's nobody to cook for. I still cook.
Lori Walsh:
You still cook. And you want us to cook too. Absolutely. That's the other thing you want. Absolutely. You want people to have that sort of same experience with their kitchen. Absolutely. Even if it's a very simple, I'm never going to be a cook like you are.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Yeah. But you know, don't have to make a fancy dish. Make a small, simple pasta dish. It give you such a reward for yourself and your family. And honestly, like I said, when you start, you will come to feel like almost like a warmth going through your body.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. You taught me that 20 years ago when I interviewed you. Love being in your kitchen. I think that was one of the things was like create a kitchen space that you love being, it was about joy.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Yes.
Lori Walsh:
And it was about love. And again, ahead of your time.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Thank you.
Lori Walsh:
But awfully glad that we're catching up with you. Well, congratulations on being a finalist.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Thank you.
Lori Walsh:
The James Beard Restaurant and Chef Award ceremony. June 5th. In Chicago.
Sanaa Abourezk:
In Chicago. I have already my room. I reserved my room and this weekend I'm reserving my airline, so I'm set.
Lori Walsh:
They better pay attention. That's all we have to say.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Yes ma'am.
Lori Walsh:
Sanaa Abourezk, thank you for stopping by.
Sanaa Abourezk:
Thank you.
