Laili is the latest fast-casual restaurant and takeout spot to open in The Market space at Dallas Farmers Market. Owners Afifa Nayeb and Nevin Kaya created a menu that features Afghan street food, Turkish pastries -- both savory and sweet -- and classic desserts, like crème brûlée and baklava.
"Our inspiration came from flavors of the Silk Road, from the Far East to the Middle East," Nayeb says.
Laili's menu includes deftly seasoned kebabs, wraps, hummus and other delicious dips, plus exotic dishes that shouldn't be missed -- even if their names are unfamiliar.
"There's some Western influence in our menu, too," Nayeb says, noting that Laili makes American as well as Afghan breakfast foods.
"Everything we do is made fresh, from scratch. We use only natural ingredients and lots of herbs, and have a lot of healthful options on the menu. There's no freezer or fryer here," she says.
Many of Laili's specialties are labor intensive, but Nayeb's daughter and nieces often help out, especially on weekends.
Nayeb was 14 when the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan spurred her family to move to the U.S. in 1987. She met Kaya, a native of Turkey, in 2013 while studying at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Dallas. The two found that they had many homeland foods in common and began collaborating on dishes destined for Laili's menu.
A standout dish is mantoo ($12), eight meltingly tender dumplings filled with spiced beef and blanketed with complementary sauces: a tomato sauce, based on a family recipe, made with local tomatoes; and a tangy yogurt sauce that plays well with the tomato sauce.
A savory stuffed bread goes by two names, bolame and gozleme, reflecting its shared Afghan and Turkish heritage. Similar to a calzone, the dough is filled and baked with your choice of seasoned beef, chicken, potato, zucchini or spinach with feta.
Six different dips are sold in 12-ounce containers, for $6 each. The zesty cilantro dip, made with yogurt, has a saucelike consistency. It accompanies many dishes and is delicious drizzled on just about every savory item on the menu.
Chef specials pop up weekly and the most popular ones get added to the permanent menu. That includes tomato tart ($6), made with puff pastry, cherry tomatoes, cheese and herbs. Recently, a savory Turkish pastry called roulaid ($5) was added to the menu after selling out over the weekend. The crispy, lacquered puff pastry roll is filled with a deftly seasoned beef filling; it comes with side of cilantro dip.
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Takeout customers can order online and have the food delivered to their car windows in the parking area behind Laili. The restaurant also caters.
By May, a larger outpost of Laili with a dining room and patio is scheduled to open in Plano.
Laili is open Tuesday through Sunday (closed Monday). For hours and more information, visit lailidallas.com.
Tina Danze is a Dallas freelance writer.
