Ammatolí Verified listing

Ammatolí opened quietly in 2018, nestled between an architectural firm and a fast-casual burger chain, the latter of which has disappeared and become an extension of Chef Dima’s space. The restaurant had a guiding principle from the start: to serve Levantine food that refused to be limited to one particular country. Rather, Ammatolí speaks to its owner’s diasporic background and to the richness of the Levant and the wider region, with menu nods to Jordan, Palestine, Syria…

Her ascent into what Los Angeles Times food critic Bill Addison calls “the consummate classical Levantine cooking of Southern California”—something which has scored her a coveted spot on the critic’s 101 best restaurants list—has proven beautiful to watch.

Ammatolí is ultimately Chef Dima’s love letter from Jordan to Long Beach by way of the mighty Levantine cuisine, where she has taken gastronomical cues from the heart of the Levant—Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon…—and put them on beautiful display since 2018. Expanding her footprint in 2022, Ammatolí has evolved into one of our finest, where traditional, beautiful plates of Palestinian musakhan and sayadyieh are next to Chef Dima’s ever growing variety of in-house baked goods.

Photos and written by Brian Addison