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Kurd's cafe is captivating, Arizona
12.8.2005
By Erny Zah |
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Native of Iraq draws
in diners with family recipes, Mediterranean dishes
For the last six years, Amed Mamood has risen with
the sun, and in the winters, before the sun.
Each day, he opens the Sunrise Cafe, 6878 E. Sunrise
Drive, which specializes in Mediterranean food. He
usually arrives at 6:30 a.m. and opens at 7.
The early rising has paid off for Mamood, because
the Sunrise Cafe has kept its doors open and has
become a popular eating place for people who live
nearby.
"It feels like a real neighborhood cafe," said Pat
Ballard, who lives near Kolb Road and Sunrise Drive.
"Usually they see me coming in, and they have my
coffee."
Mamood is originally from the city of Sulaimani in
the Kurdish region of Iraq. He has taken foods and
recipes from his homeland and serves them up from a
two-page menu.
Even though dishes such as gyro sandwiches, kuba,
dolma, and tabouli take center stage, for one
customer, the flavors from abroad take a back seat
to eggs.
"I don't know what they do to their eggs," said
Marlee Millman, who lives near Sabino Canyon and
Kolb roads. She eats at the Sunrise Cafe at least
three times a week, ordering scrambled eggs and a
pita.
Mamood didn't start out as an aspiring entrepreneur.
As a young man, he earned degrees from two
universities, one in agronomy and the other in
entomology. He reached his academic pinnacle when he
earned a doctorate in agronomy and plant genetics
from the University of Arizona in 1987.
But he said he always has had a knack for business
because he helped his father run a candy-making
company in Sulaimani.
Working toward his degrees helped to give him a mind
for business, he said.
"It does help," said Mamood, who was dressed in a
pressed lime-green shirt with a red tie. "How you
think and how you plan - and how you execute the
plan."
His plan for opening the Sunrise Cafe came partly
from two brothers. One brother was employed at a
restaurant and was tired of working for a stranger.
It's the freshness and quality of the food that
Mamood takes pride in the most. The menu items come
from his mother's and grandmother's recipes.
"All the recipes have to come from somebody else,"
he said.
To ensure freshness, he imports most of his spices
and grinds only as much as he needs. The cafe
prepares most of its food after it's ordered. If
it's something prepared in advance - such as hummus,
babaghanouj or tabouli - it's made daily.
"Our goal in this business is to have the
best-quality food, regardless of what we pay for the
food," he said.
Two sisters understand Mamood's goal.
Amy Hoeft, who lives near Sunrise Drive and Sabino
Canyon Road, went to the Sunrise Cafe for the first
time after she picked up her sister, Jen Hoeft, who
had just come from Nashville, Tenn.
For her first stop in Tucson, Jen Hoeft wanted to
eat at the Sunrise Cafe.
She first went to the cafe last November when she
was visiting family members, and she has made it a
point to visit Sunrise ever since - she has been
there three times.
Jen Hoeft said she just had to have a Mediterranean
salad from the cafe.
Meanwhile, Amy Hoeft tried some of the Sunrise
Cafe's Mediterranean dishes for the first time.
When Amy Hoeft tried a falafel - deep-fried,
seasoned garbanzo bean patties dipped in cucumber
dressing - her eyes lighted up.
"This is really good," she said.
Next she tried the kuba, a Kurdish dish consisting
of deep-fried patties with seasoned rice, raisins,
nuts, onions, parsley and carrots. She liked that,
too.
Then she tried dolma - a grape leaf stuffed with
seasoned rice, green onions, dill weed and carrots.
Her eyes became wider and brighter as she smiled and
chewed her food. She said the dolma tasted fresh.
"It's like you can still smell it," Amy Hoeft said.
"It bursts with flavor."
www.dailystar.com
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