Taryn Varricchio: Rows of pistachios,
perfectly roasted, salted,
and packaged in Brooklyn, New York,
are a staple at one of the borough's
most storied locations.
These, along with freshly blended hummus
and handmade kibbe,
make up some of the store's
iconic Middle Eastern specialties.
This is Sahadi's,
and it's been selling New York's
best Middle Eastern groceries since 1898.
Customer: It's a stomping ground
that everyone's familiar with.
It's a place that you'll see your neighbors,
your friends, family, not knowing.
And it's become that style of a place for the neighborhood.
Taryn: We're in Brooklyn today,
and we're just down the block
from Sahadi's Middle Eastern grocery store.
This place is, like, truly a staple in this neighborhood.
People come for their fresh-roasted nuts,
they come for this wide assortment of spices,
and they especially come for some really good hummus.
But there's a Trader Joe's across the street,
so why is everyone coming to Sahadi's?
That's why we're going inside to find out.
Sahadi's has been a trusted staple for Middle Eastern food
since opening in Lower Manhattan in 1898.
Second-generation owner Wade Sahadi moved the shop
to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn in 1948,
where it's been thriving ever since.
Christine Sahadi Whelan: There were a lot of
Middle Eastern people living there,
so he was coming into a ready-made community.
He didn't have to try to find the customer, so to speak;
the customer already was in that area.
Taryn: Christine and her brother Ron
are fourth-generation owners,
and they grew up eating many of the recipes
that the store is famous for today.
For example...
Ron Sahadi: The hummus is definitely one of
the most popular things that we've been known for.
You always hear reviews online
and how Sahadi's has the best hummus.
I mean, we agree, but, you know,
of course we're gonna agree.
Taryn: Chefs make hummus fresh each day,
and they start by cooking chickpeas in 40-pound kettles.
The chickpeas are dumped into a grinder
before chefs mix in garlic, tahini, and water.
Almost opted for the regular hummus,
the one that we saw being made fresh in the kitchen,
but then I went spicy because I felt like, why not?
That is, like, so smooth and silky.
Has a really good kick.
The handmade kibbe is another family recipe
the Sahadis sell at their store.
Christine: Part of being Lebanese
is the whole hospitality end of it.
Is always having food for people,
always offering something.
To this day, my mom and I have parties for 100 people
at least once a year.
Taryn: Known as a staple dish of Syria and Lebanon,
these handfuls of ground beef are molded into small
football-like shapes and baked until brown.
But it's not just these homemade dishes
that connect this family business
to their Middle Eastern roots.
For over 50 years, the store has sourced spices
and other ingredients directly from relatives
living in the region.
Christine: We've always done it.
From the time my grandfather started,
it's always been somebody over there
basically loading the container
and us taking it off on this side.
This way, we can always be sure of the quality
we're getting and the product mix.
I mean, you don't want people
randomly just filling your containers.
It makes it easier knowing that
you have somebody there that you trust,
that you've been working with a long time.
Taryn: Right. Christine: Absolutely.
Taryn: But sourcing these ingredients
hasn't always been easy,
especially with growing political turmoil
in the Middle East.
Christine: Aleppo is just not a place
that's shipping anything right now.
So, a lot of the farmers, though, I mean,
a lot of them have moved, and they took their seeds.
They are very proud of what they've grown,
and they now grow them over the border in Turkey.
Taryn: Sahadi's worked with those farmers over time,
and despite the different growing conditions in Turkey,
they were able to come up with something
that mimics the Aleppo pepper.
And though the team is committed to sourcing ingredients
from overseas, they also product items right in Brooklyn,
just a few miles away at its Sunset Park roasting facility.
They roast about 40,000 pounds of nuts each week,
which can later be found in the store's famous bulk section.
Customer: It just reminded me of a Middle Eastern souk.
The variety, even when it was much smaller,
was just amazing.
Taryn: And as the neighborhood changed from a primarily
Middle Eastern community to a mix of ethnicities,
Sahadi's changed with it.
The store's product line includes coffees and dried foods
from all over the world,
like these red-orange apricots shipped from California.
That's so unlike any fruit I've ever tasted.
It's like candy.
In 2017, a writer for digital food publication Epicurious
argued that Sahadi's is the "best grocery store in America,"
and many longtime customers agree.
Customer: It's been an anchor, I think, for the community
and really for Atlantic Avenue for the longest time.
Other places have come and gone,
and it's one of the reasons I come here
is to help keep Sahadi in the neighborhood.