The Mezze Architect

Nadia Hariri

Nadia grew up in Beirut where lunch is never one dish — it's twenty small dishes that tell a story. She teaches Lebanese home cooking as an architecture of textures and temperatures: creamy hummus, crunchy fattoush, tangy tabbouleh, all on the table at once.

Levantine

Voice · Elegant, generous, detail-oriented about freshness, proud of the mezze tradition.

Signature Dishes

The essential curation of Nadia's favorites.

50 MIN

Crispy Buckwheat Crepes with Lemon Herb Tahini Filling

Delicate buckwheat crepes pan-fried until golden and crisp, filled with a bright, nutty tahini blended with lemon zest, fresh herbs, and a hint of garlic. A Levantine-inspired filling in a Breton-style vessel.

15 MIN

Herb-Rich Pinto Bean Dip with Tahini and Parsley

A creamy, herbaceous pinto bean dip enriched with velvety tahini, bright lemon, and fresh flat-leaf parsley. This is the kind of spread Nadia would serve at the center of a mezze table — comforting, punchy, and impossible to stop eating.

50 MIN

Roasted Butternut Squash Fattoush with Toasted Pita

A vibrant Lebanese fattoush elevated with caramelized roasted butternut squash and shattered toasted pita — the sweet squash bridges beautifully with the tangy lemon dressing and fresh herbs.

55 MIN

Smoky Roasted Butternut Squash and Tahini Dip

A velvety Levantine-inspired dip where caramelized roasted butternut squash meets creamy tahini, brightened with lemon and finished with a smoky paprika oil swirl. This is mezze done the Nadia way — layered, fragrant, and made for sharing.

15 MIN

Sesame Snap Pea and Mint Salad with Lemon Olive Oil

A bright, crunchy salad celebrating snap peas at their peak with fragrant mint and a silky lemon-olive-oil dressing kissed with toasted sesame.

42 MIN

Feta and Parsley Stuffed Zucchini Rounds with Lemon Tahini Drizzle

Golden zucchini rounds filled with a savory feta and parsley mixture, baked until tender and finished with a bright lemon-tahini drizzle. A mezze-inspired appetizer that balances creamy, tangy, and herbaceous notes.

50 MIN

Lemon Tahini Olive Oil Cake

A tender, fragrant cake where nutty tahini meets bright lemon and fruity olive oil. Nadia's signature twist transforms a simple olive oil cake into something that tastes like the Levantine pantry — rich, tangy, and deeply satisfying.

27 MIN

Minted Lemon Ricotta Parfait with Pistachios

A cloud-like layered dessert of whipped lemon-scented ricotta, fresh mint oil, and crunchy toasted pistachios. Light, tangy, andnutty — perfect for warm afternoons or an elegant close to a mezze spread.

30 MIN

Sesame Tahini Halva with Cinnamon

A classic Lebanese sweet made by slowly cooked tahini and sugar syrup, infused with warm cinnamon and finished with a pistachio garnish. Dense, aromatic, and melt-on-your-tongue tender.

50 MIN

Green Lentil Kofta with Za'atar and Mint Yogurt

Fragrant herb-crusted lentil kofta served alongside a bright mint yogurt sauce. The za'atar coating adds a nutty, tangy crust while the cooling yogurt ties everything together.

50 MIN

Roasted Chickpea and Vegetable Mezze with Tahini-Lemon Drizzle

A vibrant Levantine mezze featuring caramelized roasted vegetables and crispy chickpeas finished with a silky tahini-lemon drizzle, perfect for sharing around the table.

45 MIN

Za'atar Roasted Chicken Thighs with Lemon-Herb Sauce

Tender chicken thighs rubbed with a fragrant homemade za'atar blend, roasted until golden and finished with a bright, herbaceous lemon sauce. The Mezze Architect's way of bringing Levant-inspired warmth to the weeknight table.

40 MIN

Lemon-Tahini Chickpea and Spinach Soup

A velvety Lebanese-inspired soup where creamy tahini melds with bright lemon and earthy chickpeas, finished with wilted spinach and fresh herbs for a nourishing mezze-style bowl.

65 MIN

Roasted Beet Salad with Tahini and Fresh Herbs

A vibrant salad of caramelized roasted beets drizzled with silky tahini and bright lemon, finished with a generous scattering of fresh herbs. The Mezze Architect brings her signature balance of creamy, tangy, and herbaceous.

50 MIN

Za'atar Roasted Eggplant with Tahini and Lemon

Tender roasted eggplant halves charred to perfection, dusted with a fragrant za'atar spice blend and draped in silky tahini sauce with bright lemon. A Levantine mezze moment.

35 MIN

Lemon-Herb Quinoa Pilaf with Toasted Pine Nuts

A bright, nourishing pilaf where fluffy quinoa meets the zing of fresh lemon, fragrant herbs, and toasted almonds for crunch. Nadia treats this as a centerpiece mezze side — the kind of dish that makes the whole spread feel intentional.

55 MIN

Za'atar and Herb Fattoush with Crispy Chickpeas

A vibrant Lebanese bread salad elevated with za'atar-kissed dressing, crisp vegetables, and golden crispy chickpeas for texture. Nadia's fattoush is an architecture of fresh and crunchy, where every bite tells the story of the Mediterranean table.

40 MIN

Crispy Chickpeas with Lemon, Herbs and Tahini Drizzle

Golden roasted chickpeas tossed with warm spices, finished with a silky tahini-lemon drizzle and a generous heap of fresh herbs. This is the kind of dish that makes people linger at the table.

45 MIN

Silky Chickpea and Tahini Soup with Cumin

A velvety Lebanese-inspired soup where chickpeas are blended with rich tahini and bright lemon into silky perfection, finished with cumin and a drizzle of olive oil.

30 MIN

Crispy Fattoush with Whipped Tahini Dressing

A vibrant Lebanese salad of crisp romaine, juicy tomatoes, and refreshing cucumber tossed with herbaceous parsley and mint, crowned with golden crispy bread and drizzled with a silky whipped tahini dressing that ties every bite together.

45 MIN

Roasted Cauliflower with Pomegranate-Tahini Drizzle

Caramelized cauliflower crowns dressed in a silky tahini sauce with bright lemon and garlicky depth, finished with jewel-like raspberry scattered over the top for a stunning mezze-inspired centerpiece.

35 MIN

Warm Chickpeas with Lemony Tahini and Toasted Sesame

Warm spiced chickpeas bathed in a luxuriously creamy tahini sauce, brightened with lemon and finished with a scattering of toasted sesame. This is the kind of dish Nadia would serve family-style, inviting everyone to scoop with warm pita.

65 MIN

Mujadara with Crispy Caramelized Onions

Lentils and basmati rice simmer together with cumin until they become something greater than either ingredient alone — earthy, nutty, and perfectly seasoned. What elevates it is the onion, sliced thin and fried in olive oil until deeply caramelized and almost jammy, then scattered across the top. Mujadara is proof that restraint and patience produce the most satisfying food.

27 MIN

Fattoush with Crisp Toasted Bread

Cucumber and tomato hold their shape, lettuce brings a cool, yielding crunch, and shards of toasted bread shatter into the bowl with every toss. A sharp lemon dressing pulls the whole composition together, keeping each element distinct rather than wilted into uniformity. Fattoush is about contrast — soft and crisp, bright and cool — and this one honors that completely.

45 MIN

Spinach and Chickpea Stew with Cumin

Chickpeas take on depth as they simmer with garlic and cumin, and spinach added toward the end wilts into the broth while holding enough body to give the stew substance and color. A squeeze of lemon at the finish keeps everything from settling into heaviness, cutting through the earthiness with clean, sharp brightness. Deeply nourishing without asking anything of you.

40 MIN

Smoky Eggplant Mutabbal with Tahini

Eggplant charred over a flame until the skin collapses and the interior turns smoky and yielding is the starting point — from there, tahini, lemon, and garlic fold in to create a dip that is simultaneously rich and alive with acidity. Parsley scattered across the surface offers a note of freshness against all that depth. Every great mezze table earns one.

45 MIN

Roasted Cauliflower Drenched in Tahini

Cauliflower roasted until deeply golden and caramelized at the edges becomes something almost unrecognizable — nutty, sweet, with a slight chew that holds up beautifully beneath a tahini sauce thinned with lemon and drizzled without restraint. Parsley and olive oil finish the plate, adding color and a grassy richness that keeps the dish from feeling heavy. This is the vegetable preparation that changes minds.

50 MIN

Crispy Herb Falafel with Lemon Tahini

Ground chickpeas, fresh parsley, garlic, and cumin are shaped and fried until the exterior is deeply crunchy and the inside stays soft and herb-flecked. Tahini loosened with lemon becomes the sauce — nutty, tangy, and thick enough to coat each piece generously. These are the falafel worth making at home.

35 MIN

Parsley-Heavy Couscous Tabbouleh

Couscous replaces bulgur as the grain here, its delicate texture serving as a quiet backdrop for the real subject — an abundance of parsley chopped fine, combined with ripe tomato, sharp lemon, and enough olive oil to make everything glisten. The proportions matter: this is a parsley salad with grain, never the reverse. Bright, tangy, and deeply refreshing.

45 MIN

Garlic Lemon Shish Tawook Skewers

Chicken breast soaks in yogurt, lemon, garlic, and paprika until every fiber is tenderized and flushed with tangy color, then grilled over high heat until the edges char and the inside stays impossibly juicy. The yogurt marinade does the quiet work of breaking down the meat while lending a subtle tang that no sauce can replicate. Simple in construction, but arranged properly on the table they are never simple to resist.

From the Pantry

Signature staples

tahinichickpeaslemongarlicolive-oilparsley

Favorite tools

FoodProcessorChefKnifeMortarAndPestleGrill

Reaches for

TahiniFresh Flat-Leaf ParsleyPomegranate Molasses

Steers clear of

Dried herbs when fresh existCanned chickpeas for hummus

Flavor Profile

The Loves

TangyHerbaceousNutty

The Defaults

TahiniLemonOlive Oil

The Avoids

Store-bought hummusDried parsley