We raised a glass (of water, because the restaurant is dry) to the Syrian people at Aleppo’s Kitchen, praying that the new government would not be worse than the last and that peace would return to that afflicted land.
As Syrians Revolt, A Syrian Dinner At Aleppo’s Kitchen In Southern California
I’ve written about Aleppo’s Kitchen before, a Syrian restaurant in Anaheim, California that my family loves. I don’t usually write about our family restaurant visits, but our latest dinner took on a whole new meaning after the Syrian people overthrew the regime of Bashar Al-Assad in the completion of a revolution that began over a decade ago.
It’s difficult to topple a government…but it is even more difficult to secure the pace.
In fact, I’m not even sure if commemorate is the right word. Perhaps recognize? As a traveler, I had hoped to visit Syria during the Assad regime and appreciated its protection of Christian minorities, but also recognized that this London-trained doctor was a butcher…and so was his father. There is a price to pay, sometimes via the sacrifice of civil liberties, in order to keep the peace, but there seemed to be a disproportionality at play here…
I’m not celebrating that the mausoleum of Hafez al-Assad was desecrated yesterday…the monuments of the past are a necessary (and harrowing) reminder of what we must guard against in the future and a vivid reminder that history is doomed to repeat itself if we let it..
But the Syrian people are a hard-working and proud people…that is no trite cliché and we see it locally at restaurants like Aleppo’s Kitchen…and part of me is hopeful…perhaps naively so…that the new government will not just represent a different flavor of dictatorship and oppression but a golden opportunity to transform a nation that has been shackled for far too long by a cabal of self-interest.
So I may have celebrated with mansaf, the Jordanian national dish (I just cannot help myself when we drive down here with this superb Bedouin dish), but we had a wonderful feast of salads, yogurt, hummus, falafel, and kabobs…plus decadent desserts. It was an amazing meal as always, but it took on new meaning in an era of decisive change in Syria.
Lol this a slow day or something?
I quite enjoy these topics.
You know, I was planning to visit Syria. I had everything booked. Hamas attacked Israel just a few weeks before I was supposed to go. I was even planning to still take the trip, up until Israel started bombing Aleppo and Damascus. The tour operator tried to assuage me by saying “they don’t bomb the areas we visit.”
I fear the poor people of Syria will end up with a regime worse than the last one. The new leader is an Islamist and nothing good ever comes out of that.
@Chi … +1 . Actually , revolutionaries who overthrow despots are usually more despotic than the last one . Cuba , Nicaragua , China , and Russia are examples .
The favourable outcome was USA , which became a light for those who wish to be free .
The Assad regime being gone is good. Too bad Israel is bombing and invading the country as well.
Can hardly blame Israel for ensuring Assad’s weapons do not fall into the wrong hands, no?
Israel (and Turkey) sponsored and supported the overthrow of the Assad regime, no? What wrong hands? And what does weapons have to do with them occupying and stealing more land? Besides their Greater Israel expansion plans being driven by the settlers…
Remember Libya, when Gaddafi fell and the vast array of weapons left behind from the ancient regime fueled a (still ongoing) brutal civil war. ‘Aaron’, you’re an intellectual pygmy, blighted by stupidity, cursed with ignorance, and blinkered by hate.
Aw, nice try “Ahmad”. But Libya and Syria are 2 different countries with different geopolitical realities. If you had any sense, you’d notice Israel isn’t just bombing weapons depots, but your ignorant and myopic worldview, “Ahmad”, won’t let you see that.
Your useless sock puppet comment also doesn’t address my point about Greater Israel’s colonial expansion.
STFU Aaron
Make me, you human equivalent to an ingrown hair on a rhino’s testicle.
I’m wondering if you will beat me to Damascus when things open up. In a way I hope you do, because then I’ll benefit from your trip report.
I hope to go!
Yeah, a toast to the internationally wanted terrorists running the show and beheading people!
I’m not toasting any such people…
Nice article. Food looks delicious. I’d love to visit Iran and Syria, and an Iraqi friend told me Iraq is very safe now …
Closest I’ve been is jordan and Israel (including the West Bank) which were all phenomenal.
Some random performative White nonsense as per usual.
Syrian refugees do not care that you ate at Aleppo’s Kitchen
Delta will serve Damascus…on the A350-1000!