Miranda Kaiser takes a seat on the new laffa oven at Laffa Medi-Eastern Restaurant & Bar. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World file
I caught Miranda Kaiser the way I most often do, emerging from a hot kitchen wiping her hands on a well-worn apron.
She was training the kitchen staff of the new Laffa Medi-Eastern Restaurant & Bar, set to open in stages over the next few weeks at 111 N. Main St.
"We will start with the falafel stand," said Miranda, who also operates another restaurant, Cosmo, with husband Phil.
The falafel stand is a window that opens to the sidewalk, where customers may purchase falafel -- deep-fried balls of chickpeas and spices stuffed with "lots of other stuff" -- and shawarma, spicy chicken with a wide combination of stuffers such as hummus, curried tehina and mango chili sauce.
The falafel stand eventually will be open to 3 a.m. Thursday-Saturday.
"When the falafel stand is perfect, then we will start letting people in and serve a limited menu, probably mezze (appetizers), snacks and desserts. When that is right we will add entrees," Miranda Kaiser said.
The interior of the restaurant is nearly ready. Kaiser said the restaurant's liquor license has not arrived, and she still has a good amount of training to do.
"I still have to get some other people trained on the laffa oven," Kaiser said, pointing to a shiny piece of equipment that looks like an old, hand-cranked cement mixer only a lot prettier.
"It's like a lot of things in the restaurant business. It seems easy when you have done it a couple of hundred times, but it can be a little tricky at first."
Laffa is a bread, something like naan, served throughout the Middle East.
"We won't cook anything else but breads in the oven because of vegan and vegetarian concerns," Kaiser said.
Kaiser said no definite timetable has been set to launch each stage, but she said she hoped to be fully operational by the next Brady Arts District's First Friday Crawl on March 1.
"I want everything absolutely right before we put it out there for the public," she said.
Miranda lived in Israel for 14 years and Phil lived there for 17 years.
"This is our favorite food, and we think this is the right time and the right place to open this kind of restaurant," Kaiser said. "I'm not sure it would have worked even five or six years ago."
Laffa is located on the north end of the same building that houses the new Fairfield Inn & Suites.
