Photograph by George Sakkestad
Samir Botros owns Sahari Restaraunt on E. Fremont Avenue in Sunnyvale.
By LESTER CHANG
When it comes to taking care of the Sahari Restaurant and its patrons, owner Samir Botros doesn't spare the expenses.
Botros, whose restaurant specializes in Egyptian cuisine, likes to greet patrons at the door, seat them and advise them on dishes. He also checks the quality of the dishes and serves them.
The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday, but Botros can often be found working on Sunday, buying new wall decorations, ordering supplies or looking at ways he can make his restaurant better.
"When you love something, you give it all you got," he said. "My restaurant is my life."
The restaurant opened three years ago and has been successful partly because it is the only Egyptian restaurant in the Santa Clara Valley, Botros said.
Only at his restaurant, he said, will a patron be able to sample dishes commonly found in Cairo, from where he and his wife, Jacklien, hail.
These include ful midames, which consists of fava--a special bean used in many Egyptian dishes--oil, herbs and spices. They also serve kushry, which includes rice, lentils, two types of noodles, garbanzo beans, crushed fried onions and a spicy tomato sauce.
Another popular dish is hummus, which consists of garbanzo beans blended with lemon juice, garlic and sesame seed sauce, wrapped in pita bread.
Spices and herbs make Egyptian cuisine special, Botros said. He uses about 15 spices and herbs, mostly imported from Egypt. These include samaa, cumin and cordnerar.
The Botros strive for meals that are "healthy." They trim the fat off lamb and use chicken breast meat, which is low in fat, Botros said. Vegetarian dishes can be found among the 50 or so dishes offered on the dinner and lunch menus.
Botros, 38, learned to cook Egyptian food from his parents, who ran restaurants in Cairo when he was young.
Before he opened his restaurant in 1993, he worked for 17 years at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose and in Santa Clara at the Decathlon Club and Biltmore Hotel. That experience taught him the importance of treating customers the "right way," Botros said.
"When a person comes in here, I want him to feel at home, to be at ease," Botros said. "I want him to know he is among friends."
The restaurant is located at 126 E. Fremont Ave. in Sunnyvale. Lunch is served 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Dinner is served 5-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Reservations are required on Friday and Saturday night (245-1448).
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 15, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.