Aladdin's Fine Mediterranean & American Cuisine

The Anchorage Press - Press Picks - Recently Reviewed Restaurants
by Amanda Coyne
(Published: September 11th, 2003)

A great little Mediterranean restaurant in a strip mall on Tudor and Old Seward, with a relaxed atmosphere and melt-in-your-mouth lamb. The Moroccan dishes are more interesting than the Greek fare. The lamb with pears is a nearly perfect dish, and the chicken with pomegranates is one of the more unique dishes in Anchorage. Stay away from the mousaka and absolutely do not skip the bread of Tunisia dessert.

Recipe for success
Local restaurateur's soups, sauces ladle up a brisk business

by SARANA SCHELL
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: July 4, 2003)

SOUP'S ON

Anchorage Daily News

Staff

When a friend suggested Rabah Chettfour sell to-go packages of the soups at his restaurant, Aladdin's Fine Mediterranean and American Cuisine, he said "Sure, why not?" After trying his soups, he said, Carrs-Safeway management asked if he might make soup for them.

"Sure, we'll try it," said Chettfour, and spent some $200,000 opening a soup production facility in the back of the Anchorage restaurant he runs with his wife and children.

The calculated risk paid off, Chettfour said. Two years later, he supplies soup for delis in Carrs-Safeway grocery stores in Anchorage, the Valley, Fairbanks and Kenai, as well as soups and sauces for a few Anchorage accounts.

Darryl Matanane, executive chef for 4th Avenue Theatre Fine Catering, buys a lemon beurre blanc sauce through Chettfour's soup business, Rabah's Fine Soups. He uses the sauce on grilled Alaska salmon and in Halibut Olympia that he serves on Alaska Railroad trains.

"It's all about cost and labor and consistency," Matanane said. By ordering from Chettfour, Matanane avoids the cost and time of ordering and storing ingredients, and of making the sauce. He said he gets a consistent product made from his own recipe that is safely packaged to have a refrigerated shelf life of up to six weeks.

Those savings of time and labor, and the packaging, are key when Matanane serves up to 1,100 people a day during the peak summer season.

"It lets me do other things in the kitchen," Matanane said. "I just make a phone call, 'Can I have 20 bags of my sauce?' "

Chettfour first thought of doing the soup processing somewhere other than his restaurant.

"But the logistics were nightmarish," said the 47-year-old, who started Aladdin's a decade ago to be home with his family. Instead, he transformed a banquet room at the back of the restaurant.

Customers were sad to see the room with murals and leather ottomans go, said Chettfour, who is originally from Algeria. But the kitchen now makes half his revenue, with no additional rent.

Of course, putting in the gas and electricity cost $75,000, and equipment was $120,000.

His commercial system, like those in schools and prisons, bags soups while they are hot, then quickly chills them.

"I'm the first USDA-approved facility for soup preparation in the state," said Chettfour. The U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees commercial kitchens like his.

Soups are mixed in a large kettle, then piped through a 3-inch tube to a dispenser that squirts a premeasured amount of soup into a bag. Next, bags go into an icy food bath. An air compressor sends bubbles up from beneath a plastic mat at the bottom of a black plastic tub, mixing the water to cool the soups. An employee stirs the ice cube-studded water with a metal-and-black-plastic paddle.

Chettfour aims a device that looks like a cordless bar code reader into the tub. A laser reads the temperature, displaying it in red at the back of the device. When it dips below 40 degrees, the bags are put in plastic crates and wheeled into the refrigerator.

He points to the label on the bag: There are no preservatives. A modified starch keeps the chunky elements of the soups -- beans, broccoli, potatoes or meat -- from sinking to the bottom, so the first and last bags have the same ratio of chunks to liquid.

In an average week, two kitchen employees make 500 to 750 gallons of soup.

Chettfour's soup recipes range from a vegan white bean and cumin that has no milk, egg or other animal products, to zucchini, pear and blue cheese, to a spicy cajun-style beef, chicken and rice "gumbolaya."

They are far better than those Carrs-Safeway stores used to offer, said Alaska district manager Glenn Peterson, and the company likes having a local vendor.

"The price was right, the quality was right, and it made sense for us," Peterson said.

Investing in the system without a contract was a risk, Chettfour said, but one he was willing to take.

"Life is all about that," Chettfour said, quoting a saying:

"An opportunity is never lost. Someone else takes it."

Aladdin's grants wishes for vegans, meat-eaters

By Nikki Jefford
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: December 13, 2002)

No need to rub a magic lantern for a satisfying meal to appear at your table -- you'll find it at Aladdin's.

When you arrive at Aladdin's, you leave behind the hustle and bustle and enter a sanctuary that's exotic and calm. This is a place where you can enjoy your meal and company.

My husband and I started with the melted brie appetizer with almonds and toasted points for $5.95. I have never been fond of brie, but the melted mixture was a treat -- muted in the process of cooking.

Aladdin's is a great choice for vegetarians. I love menus that have vegetarian meals in their own easy-to-find listing, which Aladdin's does. There are eight main dishes that range between $11 and $13. I chose the grilled vegetables served over a bed of couscous for $11.

Rabah Chettfour, the owner, says he serves a huge number of vegetarian dishes every night, about 35 percent of the total. He says vegetarians and meat-eaters alike order from the selection that includes vegan meals.

Even a note on the bottom-left corner of the menu warns that the rice is made with chicken stock and can be substituted with couscous, pasta or basmati rice.

My husband, a Frenchman, was having none of this. He ordered the lamb couscous for $13.

We had salads with the house vinaigrette, which is part of the meal. Patrons can choose from salad, the soup of the day or lentil soup. This comes served with moist rolls with bits of parsley and garlic in them.

My husband was happy to eat "real" couscous again.

"This is the way they serve it in France," he said.

My dish was excellent. The veggies were thick and juicy. I especially appreciated the succulent tomatoes after being faced with the rotting masses of them at Fred Meyer every week.

For a real treat, ask for one of Chettfour's homemade dips. I added yogurt mint (yogurt mixed with mint and garlic) into my dish, and it was heavenly. My husband had harissa (a puree of crushed red peppers with garlic and olive oil). He said it was spicy and excellent.

The evening is not finished until you've tried the homemade lemon ice cream for $4 that has bits of lemon. My husband and I debated over who would get the last bite.

Then, if you're a coffee-and-meat kind of person like my husband, try the Arabic coffee. I had Arabic mint tea (sweetened black tea and fresh mint for $1.50). Very nice, and your glass won't remain empty.

Before Aladdin's opened in September 1993, Chettfour was head of catering at the Hilton Anchorage.

"I have always enjoyed cooking," Chettfour says. "I have always loved this industry."

Above all, Chettfour says, he's a people person. You can see that as he personally greets all his patrons. Chettfour has many regulars and knows all of his customers' tastes. He knows which ones don't like tomatoes and who can't eat garlic. If a customer wants to spread ketchup all over his rack of lamb, Chettfour says he'll bring him the ketchup bottle. His philosophy is that if he takes care of his customers, they will reward him by bringing their friends.

Customers even have a choice of language when speaking to Chettfour, originally from Algeria, who speaks five different languages and two dialects.

He and my husband conversed in French, which Chettfour considers his first language.

The restaurant's name was originally intended to be Ali Baba. Then Chettfour's 2-year-old daughter was watching Disney's "Aladdin" in 1992. The movie was making a huge splash, so he said, "Let's just call it Aladdin's."

There are two kitchens in back, one for the restaurant and the other to prepare soup, which Chettfour supplies to Carrs/Safeway throughout Alaska.

His wife, Jeanette, and his oldest daughter were filling bags of soup, sealing them and putting them in a tub of icy water. His three youngest children watch "The Little Mermaid" on a small television set. The Chettfours' youngest son thought the restaurant was home until he was 5.

As for the menu, Chettfour was discouraged that most Mediterranean restaurants serve either Greek or Italian food. "My menu reflects all countries in the Mediterranean," he said.

Chettfour can personalize any of these dishes. He recently prepared bouillabaisse (a traditional French seafood stew) for a customer who called from Fairbanks with the special request.

Make a cuisine wish -- Chettfour is likely to grant it.