The Feteer Guy’s Egyptian pizza pastries will turn you into a feteer fan
Inside a restaurant kitchen in Huntington Beach, Sam Zarzour unleashed a flurry of cheese over a dough stretched thin and wide. Diced tomatoes, sliced green olives, green bell peppers and soujok, an aromatically seasoned sausage, fell next from his steadied hand.
As the owner and chef behind the Feteer Guy, Zarzour pulled the dough over the top of the assembled fillings before setting the namesake pizza-like pastry to bake in the oven. Twenty minutes later, out came a food once thought fit as an offering to the ancient Egyptian gods.
“Feteer goes back thousands of years to the times of the pharaohs,” Zarzour said. “The modern Egyptian version I make goes back to my grandmother.”
His grandmother owned a Culver City pizzeria in the early ’90s, where she also made feteer. Zarzour took an interest in the dish from watching his own mother make it, whether in home kitchens in Egypt or the United States.
After working his way up from busboy to manager in the restaurant industry for several years and earning a Cal State Dominguez Hills business degree, Zarzour opened the Feteer Guy last September.
A long, narrow hole in the wall nestled in a shopping plaza off of Beach Boulevard, the restaurant bustled with patrons on a recent Friday night.
Framed photos of the Egyptian pyramids adorned the interior as Arabic pop music (which is kind of having a breakout moment) resounded from a mounted television.
Behind the cash register, a banner hung with a cartoon depiction of Zarzour — smooth-headed, bearded, with a feteer proudly hoisted high — that serves as the restaurant’s mascot ready to rival Little Caesar.
As the real-life “feteer guy,” Zarzour beamed with Arab hospitality. Sporting a sharply cropped beard and a Feteer Guy shirt stained by flour from cooking all day in the kitchen, he patiently explained his Egyptian food offerings to newcomers — if they didn’t take up his offer to surprise them from the kitchen first.
In devising the menu, Zarzour and his wife thought about all the favored ingredients — soujok, pastrami, creamy kiri cheese and mixed cheese — they had to have when eating feteer back in Egypt. All appear on the menu in Huntington Beach.
“I also wanted to bring some American-style items, like barbecue chicken, chicken fajitas and seafood,” Zarzour said. “And then I made my own item, which is the spicy chicken kiri.”
Diners with an ethnic-food palate might be more familiar with manakeesh, a flatbread commonly referred to as Lebanese pizza with zataar typically sprinkled atop a bed of melted white cheese. The meal is easily found in the many bakeries of Anaheim’s Little Arabia.
But feteer is built different.
Beneath the golden, flaky crust is a smoldering and scrumptious meal that’s a rarer gem in Orange County’s food scene.
The popular beef shawarma pie melds marinated beef strips with mozzarella cheese. Pulling up a slice from the dish offers a tantalizing display that has propelled viral videos on social media spreading the word far and wide about the Feteer Guy.
Patrons can ask for ranch dressing and sriracha on the side, but the flavor of the feteer’s fresh ingredients best speaks for itself. Save those condiments for the barbecue chicken feteer, instead.
After the pies come out of the kitchen, Zarzour attends to his guests with a congeniality that other restaurant owners bemoan the loss of after the pandemic.
They are made to feel like family.
In Huntington Beach, that feteer foodie family on a Friday night was white, Latino, Asian and Arab, a diversity that is increasingly reflected by the city’s food scene.
The clientele is part of the reason Zarzour decided to open his restaurant in Huntington Beach, which has, so far, proven to be a savvy business move for his savory pies.
“It’s a perfect location because a lot of different people live close to the beach or travel there to have bonfires,” he said. “Three weeks ago, I had a waiting list for almost two to three hours.”
Patrons perusing the menu will also be asked if they would like to order the Feteer Guy’s other draw — sweet pies.
With Dubai knafeh chocolate bars becoming a viral trend, Zarzour created an off-menu item with dough and crepes stuffed with shredded phyllo dough and pistachios inspired by the craze.
There’s also the traditional Egyptian sugar and milk sweet pie.
“That’s one of my signature dishes,” Zarzour said. “It has homemade custard, coconut and raisins inside. Then I cut it and put some powdered sugar on top with a splash of milk. It’s not too sweet, it’s not too sour. It’s something else.”
Whether ordering savory or sweet pies, diners leave the Feteer Guy with a similar feeling. For Zarzour, their satiation is his affirmation.
“Seeing people enjoying feteer at my restaurant brings me happiness,” he said. “It’s like I have accomplished my dream.”
The Feteer Guy is located at 19092 Beach Blvd. Ste. V, in Huntington Beach.
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