Jay Hajj - Beirut to Boston: A Cookbook: Comfort Food Inspired by a Rags-to-Restaurants Story

CHEF AND OWNER OF MIKES CITY DINER

WINNER OF GUYS GROCERY GAMES AND FEATURED ON FOOD NETWORKS DINERS, DRIVE-INS, AND DIVES

WRITER FOR THE BOSTON HERALD

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Dedicated to my father and mother, Nicolas and Samira Hajj.

They left behind all they knew to give us a better life.

When I think of Boston, like a lot of other people, I think of the Red Sox, the New England Patriots, the Boston Tea Party and a city rich in American history.

But to me, its also city with a big-time food identity well beyond just chowdah and lobstah. And my buddy Jay Hajj from Mikes City Diner is about the greatest representative of the Boston scene that Ive come across. He may have been born in Beirut, but the Jay I know is a Bostonian to the bone.

I first met Jay when I was in Boston shooting Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and I knew right away that he was the real deal. Hes a hard-working, self-made restaurateur who makes you just want to get in the kitchen and cook with him. Since we first met on DDD, weve cooked together a million times. From Food Networks Guys Big Bite where Jay did his version of New England clam chowder to competing on Guys Grocery Games to cookin it up at my birthday bash, Jay and I have seen some serious kitchen action together and most importantly, weve become brothers.

And not only can he cook, hes got a huge heart and he shares it generously with his guests and his city. Jay was one of the first chefs to jump in with me on our annual Cooking With Best Buddies Food & Wine Festival where along with founder Anthony Shriver and Patriots great Tom Brady, we work to raise awareness and money for Best Buddies International, an amazing organization dedicated to helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

But just being a good guy doesnt mean you should have a restaurant or write a cookbook. And thats where Mikes City Diner and Jays truly unique background come in. Youre not gonna find anyone who doesnt dig Mikes City Diners Famous Pilgrim Sandwicheverything youve ever loved about Thanksgiving all rolled into one big-time sandwichor his famous hash.

But its not just all diner classics here, youll also find an incredible global array of foods, representing the various cultural influences that have inspired Jays cooking. The homemade chicken liver pt with pomegranate, onion and bacon marmalade is inspired by a dish Jay ate while escaping the war zone of Beirut in the 1970s. All the different recipes for manakish , a kind of Lebanese pizza, are amazing. And the chicken with 50 cloves of garlic my mouth is watering right now even talking about it.

In this book, you even get some behind-the-scenes recipes from the late, great Locke-Ober, Bostons most famous restaurant for more than 100 years. Today its called Yvonnes, and Jay is one of the partners behind it. Weve shared some amazing food at this beautiful restaurant and, yes, this book shares some of Yvonnes recipes too.

Jay Hajj is a true character with an inspiring story and an uncanny ability to tell that story through food. This book is that very story and I know youll dig it as much as I do.

This book is a journey in many ways. Its an immigrants journey, a uniquely American journey and a culinary journeytold through the food and recipes of my life as a chef, shaped by two very different cities on opposite sides of the world: beautiful but troubled Beirut, the Paris of the East, and smart but pugnacious Boston, the Athens of America.

This is, at its core, a book about the American Dream. And Im happy to say the American Dream is alive and well. I know because Ive lived it. And Ive seen many friends, from all corners of the globe, live this dream too.

My journey began as a boy in war-torn Beirut, caught quite literally in the cross fire of the Lebanese Civil War. My father Nicolas provided for the family, but when the war came he was often away serving in the Lebanese army. My mom Samira had to care for her four children, and of course feed us under difficult circumstances. During the good times, we lived cramped in a small apartment in the middle of the city. Then the war exploded outside our fourth-floor window in 1975, during a violent incident still known ominously today as the Bus Massacre.

The foods we ate to survive were Lebanese versions of the time-honored cuisine of the Arab and Middle Eastern worlds. Beans. Rice. Lamb on occasion. Plenty of fresh and colorful fruits and vegetables such as figs, lemons and pomegranates. And the beautiful, aromatic spices of the Middle East and Mediterranean, including allspice, cinnamon and Aleppo pepper, all of which flavor the pages of this book.

The Middle Eastern comfort food of my childhood has since been complemented by the hearty, often oversized and globally influenced cuisine of my adopted homeland of the United States.

We moved to Boston when I was an 8-year-old boy and it instantly opened up a whole new world to me in many different ways. Food was central to that immigrant experience. I discovered Greek, Italian, Irish and Asian food. And plenty of fresh, beautiful New England seafood. Food and flavors I never knew existed when I lived in Lebanon. By age 13, I was cooking in local restaurants, learning to master this new world of food and flavor. Food was essential to my assimilation. Its how I discovered the amazing cultural patchwork that is the United States. Food is the path I followed to become an American.

Today, I own Mikes City Diner in Bostons South End, which I purchased back in 1996 and which has since been recognized as one of the best diners in the nation. The success of Mikes has afforded me an opportunity to invest in other signature restaurant properties around Boston.