PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Attar family has a passion for the food they supply to customers in the Portland area from their international food and wine selection at World Foods to the Lebanese cuisine they serve at Ya Hala Restaurant.
The Southeast Stark Street restaurant, which has been open for 24 years, features a fast, casual space to order food at the counter along with the newly opened Fairuz Room — a 32-seat space for family-style dining. The room is now available for reservations through Resy.
“We wanted to create an environment where our mom can really express herself in food in a different way and introduce people to food that isn’t just hummus and baba ghanoush, some more unique and traditional dishes,” said Co-Owner Joyce Attar.
Co-owners Joyce and Pascal Attar’s parents moved to the Portland area from Lebanon in the late 80s, opening Ya Hala before Barbur World Foods and World Foods at Everett – grocery stores with imported food from around the world from Spanish olive oil to French charcuterie, Pascal Attar explained.
World Foods also features a chef-run deli, offering unique food to help them stand out from other stores in Portland.
“Our mom is the executive chef, all of the recipes are hers and everything just kind of comes back to our culture in Lebanon,” Joyce Attar said. “We really take a lot of passion in creating products that have ingredients that you can pronounce, that don’t have a lot of unnecessary products added to them, highly seasonal when possible and really differentiates us in Portland in the grocery space.”
Watch the video above to learn more.