Internationally Inspired Eats on the East Side

Owner and Executive Chef Ghassan Daou opened L’artisan Café & Bakery in August 2010 and it’s still going strong. Born in Lebanon, raised in Worcester, MA and having gone to Assumption College, he originally had no intention of being in the food industry. As luck would have it though, after graduation he began acquiring small bistros and cafés in Mon- treal with his brother. Feeling the need to return south of the border, he started scoping out areas to open his own restaurant. The resulT: a Mediterranean-inspired café with some European flavor here in Wayland Square.

How has your Lebanese background influenced your cuisine?
We try to make everything with fresh herbs and fresh flavors. So lots of olive oil, fresh lemon, mint, basil, dill. I bring all of these things together and keep the food as simple, as basic and as natural as possible.

Where does the inspiration for your recipes come from?

Most of the items on the menu are my ideas and creations. It’s all cultivated from my 20-something years in the field. Also, my wife happens to be a great cook and has a lot of influence on things. And she always has ideas. We try to be creative and come up with new things every season.

So you do have a seasonal menu.
We have a seasonal menu for mainly the spring, summer and fall. This is to support our outdoor seating. We like to have items that we can offer for a week or two and move on to something else. We also make a lot of things in-house: salads, prepared foods, a large variety of sandwiches (panini and wraps). We do our own baking in the morning and then there’s all the coffee.

Tell me about some menu items that are inspired from your travels.
There’s definitely food inspired from my Lebanese background. We make our own tabouli, hummus, baba ghanoush, a few different salads like the lima bean salad, which is my mother’s recipe, falafel and wraps. In the summer we have a cold soup that is made with yogurt, cucumber and mint, which is very refreshing. Having lived in Montreal and being exposed to different foods, especially some French influence, the croissants, Danishes and breakfast items come from that exposure.

Did you say yogurt cucumber mint soup?
Yes! It’s a strained yogurt called labne. With that we mix some diced cucumbers, extra virgin olive oil, some fresh mint and a bit of garlic. Mixing the olive oil with yogurt and bringing all these flavors together is just such a great way to cool down in the summer.

If you had to choose a favorite dish you make, what would it be?
I personally love salads and vegetables, so tabouli would be my favorite dish. And the best time for me to eat it is at breakfast. For some reason it’s refreshing and healthy. I have it by itself. To appreciate a good tabouli, it is best to have it as a salad by itself.

What’s makes up a good tabouli?
I think choosing simple, fresh ingredients like fresh parsley, fresh vine tomatoes, good extra virgin olive oil and lemon that are then well-seasoned with fresh onion and cracked bulgur wheat. We do use a bit of onion, but we keep it to a minimum to not overpower the taste. The best way to have tabouli is to mix it right before serving.

The bread on your panini looks so good. I just want to rip off a hunk and dunk it in something.
We bake the bread in-house. In fact, the bread comes all the way from a bakery in Montreal through a distributor in Boston. The bread is very special. It is baked in a wood-fired oven at a very high temperature. It has exceptional texture.

Describe your panini and wraps.
Some panini have French-influence, like the black forest ham with French brie. We also have a grilled vegetable panini with a bit of pesto, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Then there’s the fresh turkey on cranberry bread, one of our top sellers. The wraps tend to have more Mediterranean influence. We have one called the Mediterraneo, which is essentially a Greek salad in a wrap. It has nice feta cheese, fresh tomatoes, a bit of red onion, lettuce, a couple of drops of olive oil and fresh oregano. It makes a wonderful sandwich. Very simple, very healthy.

Why did you choose to offer prepared foods?
I think because of the size of the space. We are limited to about 30 seats inside. Also to facilitate a lot of people who come in in the morning. They can grab something quick to have for lunch. Or, for those coming after work, they can grab something and have a healthy meal, even though it is prepackaged. Or you can eat it here on site. It just gives more flexibility having such a set up. You eat with your eyes. That’s why everything is on display. You can choose from what you see versus what’s on a menu. It’s another thing that is European-influenced. You’ll see this setup in many European cities.

What’s next?
We are thinking of opening another location, either here or in Massachusetts. We are looking for another prime location. We are in touch with a few people in Boston and will be having serious discussions on opening a second location.