The menu at Manhattan's Gazala Place is familiar - falafel, pita, kefta kebabs, but the preparation may not be. This sliver of a restaurant in Hell's Kitchen is considered to be the only city eatery serving Middle Eastern Druze cuisine.

Gazala Place
709 Ninth Avenue
1-212-245-0709
www.gazalaplace.com

Chef Gazala Halabi wanted to bring the food of her people - a small Islam-related religious group living primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan - to her adopted homeland.

"I didn't really think about a restaurant in the beginning, but I thought about people could know about us [Druzes] in something, and I believe the food is one of the things that people can know about culture," says Halabi.

Halabi, a 30-year-old chef from a small village outside Haifa, Israel, makes her signature Druze pita by day. She stretches and cooks the paper-thin whole wheat dough on a sagge, a dome-shaped pan.

Another specialty bread at Gazala's is the burekas. Halabi makes the flaky dough delights from scratch, including the goat cheese filling which can be mixed with spinach or sundried tomatoes.

She also has a special falafel recipe.

"We put only chickpeas, no fava beans in the falafel. Almost everybody in the Middle East use both. We only use chickpeas to make it more light, more fluffy," says Halabi.

The falafels, like many of Gazala's dishes, are seasoned with a special blend of spices which include ground date seeds and dried ground lemon.

But don't expect too many details - there is much secrecy behind the spices which Halabi's grandmother ships from back home.

"I don't know really what [secret ingredients] she puts in it, and for now I really don't want to know. As long as she send it from back home, I'm very happy," says Halabi.

For a walk on the sweet side at Gazala's, try "osh al-saraia," a yogurt and dough-based dessert flavored with orange blossom and rose water.

Out of a possible 30, Gazala Places reaps 25 for food, 10 for décor and 19 for service. Expect to spend about $22 for a meal.