Open Sesame

Although Orange County’s Little Arabia district is famously packed with Middle Eastern restaurants – including many unique options – we aren’t shy about also recommending compelling LA County alternatives. Only minutes away from OC by car, Long Beach has two such places: one is the James Beard Foundation-cited Levantine restaurant Ammatoli, and the other is Lebanese and Mediterranean mainstay Open Sesame. Continuously operating since 1999 in the Belmont Shore neighborhood (near The Second Owl), Open Sesame expanded to Los Angeles (close to The Grove) in 2013; both locations are equally well-regarded today.

Even as long-time Ammatoli fans, we were genuinely impressed by our August 2026 experiences at Open Sesame’s Long Beach location, though they are very different restaurants despite their overlapping menus – more like second cousins than siblings, each with its own virtues. Where Ammatoli feels upscale and a little formal, Open Sesame has more of a welcoming, personable vibe, not that either place has trouble filling its tables. On a random Monday evening, Open Sesame’s sprawling collection of differently decorated rooms and outdoor patio spaces were all packed, with servers and managers taking time to be kind despite remaining constantly busy and in motion; tables were easier to find right when the place opened on a subsequent Satuday for lunch. In each case, the staff and space evoked the vibes of international cafes better than anything we’ve experienced before in Long Beach – and we really appreciated them.

Ordering here is straightforward. Each guest receives two double-sided menu cards, the larger one almost exclusively focused on food: sections span soups ($9), appetizers and salads ($9 to $27), pita sandwiches and paninis ($13 to $18), man’oushe pizzas ($12 to $13), and entrees and main plates ($18 to $37). Notably, a substantial a la carte section allows guests to sample 11 different skewered meat or vegetable items ($7 to $19) without ordering accompanying plates of basmati rice – great options for those hoping to limit their carbs. Open Sesame’s smaller menu card includes six desserts ($9 to $13), a collection of alcoholic drinks ($7 to $14), and four coffees and teas ($5 to $7).

On our first and second visits, we started off with a glass of Lebanese jalab ($7), a unique refreshment made with rose water, incense-infused grape syrup, and sliced almonds. Filled with ice and served with a spoon, this drink nicely balanced the sweetness of fruit with perfume-quality floral aromas, neutralizing the rose water’s natural bitter flavor while using the incense and nuts to add a little complexity – as well as giving us reasons to keep fishing for almonds in the glass. We also tried the Lebanese coffee ($7), a small cup and a half of hot black coffee with cardamom, so thick with grounds that the last sip wasn’t worth taking.

Our first appetizer was reputably a must-try: spicy garlic potatoes ($10), a bowl of bright yellow, lightly crispy potato cubes served in a garlic and lemon sauce with a light garnish of chopped cilantro. Despite their “spicy” name, these potatoes were more memorable for their intensely citric lemon flavor and garlicky aftertaste than any chili-related heat, and the flavor only improved as we reached the sauce-filled bottom of the bowl. A similar but lower intensity lemon flavor also brightened the taste of Open Sesame’s grape leaves ($11/5), which were unusually plump, seemingly fresh, and paired with sliced tomatoes and salad greens. Flash fried cauliflower ($14) was another winner – a head’s worth of lightly browned and seasoned florets on top of a sliced tomato, onion, and greens salad, paired with sesame tahini and almond sliver dip that wasn’t necessary to make any of the veggies worth eating.

Each of those dishes surpassed our expectations by at least a little. So when we say that we comparatively liked but didn’t love Open Sesame’s baba ghannouj ($12), a lightly paprika-finished but otherwise unremarkable eggplant dip served with a nice stack of thin but tasty pitas, some context is needed. Yes, Ammatoli’s eggplant dip and pitas are better. But it charges almost twice as much for this pairing, the sort of price difference that many people would find hard to justify (until experiencing fresh-from-oven pitas). We were also good with the grilled halloumi and watermelon ($14), which paired slices of fresh watermelon with nice chunks of spongy, lightly salty cheese – an atypically large version of this dish, again at 2/3 the price of Ammatoli’s smaller plate.

The Open Sesame man’oushe Lebanese pizza we ordered, zaatar ($12), was absolutely loaded with the famous thyme-sumac-sesame-based Middle Eastern spice – typical of zaatar man’oushe/manakish flatbreads – but the crust was surprisingly small and thick rather than large and thin. We enjoyed the added flavors of scant included mint leaves, black olives, and tomato slices, which kept slipping off the small man’oushe wedges, but added to each bite’s complexity when we could keep them all together.