Just discovered Beyrut Espresso! Anyone driving to and from Nahant in need of caffeine or snacks, as I often am after surfing, should stop by this little bakery just off the rte 1 & 16 & 60 rotary near the Revere Beach T. I was pleasantly surprised by this cute bakery with wicked strong Turkish coffee with tons of cardamom & quite the assortment of pastries.
In fact, I’m partly here to ask for help in identifying some of what I ate. In my saltwater haze, the owner kept suggesting more and more items and I kept agreeing. I asked about rice pudding at one point, and she told me she had something much better, but didn’t really explain what it was. I’ll upload a photo, and say it’s a milky rosewater pudding with some kind of soft cheese dolloped on top, and sprinkled with pistachios. That’s where my knowledge falls short: the actual pudding is a chewy, fibrous material that is not quite like anything I’ve ever encountered. I would almost liken it to hand-pulled noodle dough with coconut shreds, but again, I really don’t know what it is. I don’t taste coconut, but I’m not sure what accounts for the fibrous or threadlike nature. Google only comes up with various Lebanese smooth milk puddings, and this has distinct chunks and chewy texture. Anyone?
The baklava was really excellent- I got a few squares of an almond version. It’s much less sweet than most, with a very pronounced butter flavor and a delicate crumble. I really liked it, and will definitely try the pistachio and walnut versions as well.
The owner says they’re struggling, having opened last fall during COVID, and asked me to tell my friends… so here I am. (Plus I’m fighting with the Starbucks on Revere Beach parkway because they wouldn’t use my own mug without also using a disposable cup, and the owner of this shop happily made me Turkish coffee in my reusable mug, and after a discussion about wrapping, I was able to escape with a tasty chicken pastry and no styrofoam.)
Maybe? But it was scooped as a pudding into the container, not a cut wedge as most of the pictures of knafeh seem to be. I don’t have a better guess though, so unless someone can read the writing on the container…
I went back today (there were waves again- as I’ve stated elsewhere, part of the joy of surfing is looking forward to all the calories it allows me to consume, especially in the winter) along with my family and we ate, well, pretty much one of everything. Maybe not everything- they have an astounding assortment- for example, we didn’t even get started on the Turkish Delight and nougat confections shelf, nor the French pastry area. We may have tried all the savory pastries though, and there was a chicken and mushroom samosa-like pastry that was swoon-worthy. We were starting to get looks as my salt-encrusted husband (who’d earlier today biked 50 miles prior to the surf outing, but he’s nuts) staggered up to the counter a second time and started wildly pointing at savory pastries left and right. We literally opened a tab.
I asked about the mystery pudding, but the owner wasn’t there today and the lady at the counter wasn’t quite as talkative. She also had a line of customers to deal with (phew!) so I felt bad pressing her. They did not have the mystery pudding today- she said the bottom layer is hard to make, and did say it contains semolina. That can’t be the whole story though. She agreed it’s “al jubn” but there’s another word she used which sounded to me like “hayden or hay-en”. I’ll keep investigating.
Our spring onions can also highly recommend the passion fruit lemonade. Coming from the ocean, we were a little chilled to sample the gelatos, but that will be good to know for summer. There is also a whole menu involving breakfast and lunch dishes they will make for you in either an oven or saj. Further sampling will be necessary. However, on the strength of two visits, I am going to proclaim this little spot destination-worthy.
We gotta get Nahant in our axis. Revere/Lynn/Nahant always feel a world away, yet so close. And there is a lot of good stuff there. Plus, maybe we’ll run into you and your crew at the beach one of these days. B and I are grooming our Spring Onion to be a little surfer boy.
Had some delicious things here again the other day. I still don’t understand what the fibrous material in the al jubn is. They did not have pudding again, but gave me these two little rolls, which have an outer layer of a similar texture rolled around some cheese. My kids don’t like it- comparing it to eating dog fur or a doormat. I do like it, but would like to know what it is! If you zoom in, you can see the fibers.
I’ve got to get to this place. That photo is so lovely. My son likes to practice parkour at Revere Beach so maybe we can combine efforts and also pick up some take out from the wonderful Nightshade Noodle in Lynn.
