Shawarma Near Me in East Glendale, Zahle Family Recipes: Skaf's Lebanese Cuisine

Skaf's Lebanese Cuisine, at 367 N Chevy Chase Dr in east Glendale, is a small family restaurant that has been cooking the food of Zahle, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, for Los Angeles since 1999. When shawarma near me means home cooking rather than a chain, Skaf's makes chicken and beef shawarma as pita wraps, plates and toppings for hummus, alongside a long list of mezze and grilled skewers. It keeps separate lunch and dinner sittings and closes on Sundays and Mondays.

Skaf's describes itself as a family-run Lebanese restaurant sharing the flavors of Zahle with Los Angeles since 1999. Its about page says the business began in a small North Hollywood kitchen before growing into the neighborhood spot it is now in Glendale. The restaurant's own footer gives the Chevy Chase Drive address, so that is where to head.

Zahle is known in Lebanon for its riverside restaurants and its long, generous mezze spreads, and that is the style of cooking Skaf's brings to a modest corner storefront. The homepage sums up the menu as homemade mezze, sizzling skewers and shawarma made from the same family recipes the Skaf family has shared around its own table for decades.

Shawarma is one of the headline dishes, and the menu offers it in several forms. The chicken and beef shawarma pita wraps are the quick lunch option. The shawarma plates are the full meal, with the meat served alongside sides and bread. You can also order shawarma on its own, or have it spooned over a plate of hummus, which is how many Lebanese families eat it at home.

The chicken shawarma is the lighter choice and pairs naturally with garlic sauce and pickles. The beef is richer and works best on hummus, where the warm meat and its juices soak into the chickpea puree. Ordering one hummus with beef shawarma and one chicken wrap gives two people a good sense of the kitchen's range.

The restaurant's own list of favorites leans on mezze rather than shawarma, which says a lot about what the family is proud of. It names the falafel appetizer, the hommus appetizer, grape leaves, kibbeh balls, cheese rolls and the spicy potatoes. Kibbeh nayeh, the Lebanese raw beef and bulgur dish served across the Bekaa, is also on the menu for those who want the most traditional plate in the house.

For a bigger meal, the favorites include the combo grill entree and the vegetarian combination entree, a good choice for mixed groups. One dish you will not find at most shawarma shops is the fish special, a fried whole branzino, which shows the restaurant's reach beyond grilled meat.

Leave room for dessert. The family now runs Skaf's Sweets, which handcrafts traditional Lebanese baklawa in small batches and ships it nationwide, according to the restaurant's homepage. In the dining room, baklawa is sold by the piece or in a four-piece box, so it is easy to take some home after dinner.

Lebanese baklawa tends to be lighter and less syrupy than many Greek or Turkish versions, often perfumed with orange blossom or rose water and filled with pistachios or walnuts. Ending a shawarma lunch with a piece and a small cup of coffee is the Zahle way to finish a meal.

The key thing to know is that Skaf's keeps a lunch service and a dinner service with a gap in between, Tuesday to Saturday. The kitchen shuts in the mid-afternoon before reopening at 5 pm, so a late lunch at 4 pm on a weekday will find the door locked. Sunday and Monday are rest days, which surprises visitors who plan a weekend Lebanese lunch.

The homepage invites guests to order online or swing by the restaurant, and its about page pitches it for a quick lunch, a relaxed dinner or a meal to go. The online ordering link on the official site goes to a third-party platform, so menu prices there may differ from those charged in the dining room.

For larger gatherings, the restaurant also has a catering page on its website, so the same mezze, grilled skewers and shawarma can be ordered in quantity for a family party, a church event or an office lunch in Glendale. Given the split schedule, it makes sense to arrange a catering order well before the day of the event.

Chevy Chase Drive runs through a quiet residential part of east Glendale, a long way from the malls of Brand Boulevard. A few minutes' walk away is Piedmont Park, a neighborhood park on Lexington Drive that makes an easy stretch of the legs before or after a meal.

If you want more of a city stroll, downtown Glendale and its Central Library on Harvard Street are about a mile to the west, a 20-minute walk. The library and the nearby shopping streets make a pleasant afternoon, and you can time the walk back so you arrive at Skaf's just as the dinner service begins.

Skaf's suits people who want Lebanese home cooking in a small, local room, families who enjoy sharing mezze, and anyone curious about Zahle-style dishes such as kibbeh nayeh that rarely appear at fast shawarma counters. Vegetarians are well served by the falafel, hummus, grape leaves, spicy potatoes and the vegetarian combination entree.

It is not the place for a late-night wrap or a Sunday lunch, given the split schedule and two closed days. Groups wanting a big celebration dinner with entertainment are better served by the larger Lebanese-Armenian dining rooms on Brand Boulevard.

Address: Skaf's Lebanese Cuisine, 367 N Chevy Chase Dr, Glendale, CA 91206. Phone: (818) 551-5540. Hours from the official site: Tuesday to Thursday 11:30 am to 3:30 pm and 5 pm to 8 pm; Friday 11:30 am to 3:30 pm and 5 pm to 8:30 pm; Saturday 12 pm to 4 pm and 5 pm to 8:30 pm; closed Sunday and Monday. Ordering: dine-in, to-go and online ordering through the website. Founded: 1999, first in North Hollywood. Baklawa: Skaf's Sweets ships nationwide.