Sham Restaurant

In English, "sham" means deception. In Arabic, it's the old name of Syria, literally meaning "the north country" (well, Syria is farther north than some places). In Santa Monica, Sham Restaurant manages to live up to its name in both ways.

The deceptive part is how it looks. From the street, you'd think Sham was just another storefront cafe; inside, it's surprisingly grand. Two walls are dominated by great arches in the form of shallow stalactite vaults. It's no accident that one wall also sports a photo of the Alhambra palace in Spain, famous for using the same intricate architectural motif wherever possible.

The back wall is covered with white and blue geometric tile, with high niches displaying a water pipe and an antique mortar for grinding coffee beans. Lower down there's another opening in the tile: a brick oven. Sham bakes its own breads and appetizer pastries, and its pita is not only fresher but thinner and less doughy than most you've had.

Sham's Syrianness is in its food, of course. Syrian cuisine is a lot like Lebanese but with an accent of its own. Particularly in the north of the country, it shows more Turkish influence and the same taste for cumin and mild red pepper you notice in Armenian food.

Apart from its good bread, Sham is notable for using particularly flavorful yogurt and lamb. So if you don't like gamy lamb and tart, rich yogurt, order carefully here. In particular, this place believes in letting lamb be lamb.

Most of the appetizers (mezze) are the sort familiar from Lebanese and Armenian restaurants. The kibbeh are particularly good. The crust of these deep-fried meatballs is beautifully redolent of lamb, wheat and onions, and it's about as thin and crunchy as anybody can make it. At $1.50 each, these little meat torpedoes are a bargain.

The lemony stuffed grape leaves have the classic mellow flavor. Sham makes a very savory version of muhammara, the dip of mild red peppers and walnuts flavored with a bit of pomegranate molasses. The peppers are just a little hot, and the walnuts are chopped coarser than usual: a good effect.

Falafel has an unusual doughnut-like shape here, and it's unusually flavored with cumin, sesame and crunchy black nigella seeds. The fattoush salad goes rather easy on the sumac berry flavoring, and the hummus on the lemon and garlic. I've been disappointed to find the tabbouleh soggy on one or two occasions, but at least it doesn't overdo the bulgur wheat.

The extraordinary baba ghannouj isn't the familiar eggplant dip flavored with sesame tahini. It's what some people would call Turkish salad: eggplant, tomatoes and bell peppers in vinaigrette, topped with walnuts. This is one of the best things on the menu. (The usual sort of baba ghannouj is called mutabbal here, and it generally has a good smoky flavor.)

The lamb pizza known as lahmajoun is called safeeha at Sham, and it's perfectly good, as is the triangular spinach-filled pastry called fatayer. The crescent-shaped cheese fatayer is even better: cheesy, buttery and full of sweet, fresh bread flavor.

"I could be happy just eating the appetizers," said one of my guests. But the entrées -- basically, all kebabs -- are pretty good. Lamb lovers can go for castaletta (three sweet little lamb chops), lamb kebab (called shishlake here) or the particularly juicy ground-lamb kebab.

I have found the beef-lamb shawarma kind of dry here, and also the chicken kebab (shishtouek on this menu), but the chicken shawarma is wonderful: fragrant with garlic and sweet spices, a savory mixture of moist and browned chicken bits. There are beef and fish kebabs too, both flavored with sweet spices and more red pepper than anything else on the menu. All kebabs are served in a split pita bread, which helps keep the meat warm, with pickles and garlic sauce.

At lunch, there are combo meals of your choice of two dishes and also shawarma or falafel sandwiches. Oddly, I once had a falafel sandwich here with a sort of blue cheese sauce.

The only dessert Sham serves is baklava, both domestic and (when available) imported from Syria. The only beverages are Turkish coffee, American coffee, a good ice-blended lemonade and an exceptionally rich and flavorful yogurt drink that lets yogurt be yogurt.

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