BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:The tastes and flavors of Phoenicia

Phoenicia Restaurant has opened its doors for business after a year of construction, and owner Ara Kalfayan has high hopes for its future. The restaurant, which opened at the corner of Central Avenue and Lexington Drive the first week of November, will serve Lebanese, Armenian and Mediterranean cuisine in an atmosphere that reflects Kalfayan’s home country of Lebanon.

“My challenge is to make the guests feel like they are in a Lebanese restaurant,” he said. “Like they were in Lebanon that evening.”

And Kalfayan has gone to great lengths to provide that atmosphere by going thousands of miles and by spending more than $1 million. Kalfayan brought many of the pieces of pottery found in the restaurant’s interior directly from Lebanon on his many trips there to find inspiration for the restaurant’s décor.

New additions include Phoenician-inspired arches that loom over the outdoor patio, a renovated building façade and an indoor live-entertainment area. Music and belly-dancing will be regularly performed, Kalfayan said.

The next step is announcing a grand opening. However, he wants to give that some more thought.

“It’s very difficult to have a grand opening and not have all your friends be upset,” he said.

He has also arranged the interior and the outdoor patio with large tables that seat up to eight guests. “Lebanese or Armenian tradition is to go out with families,” he said. “They don’t like to go out with only themselves.”

He also taps the experience of a highly qualified staff, like Suhilah Hariri who has been a waitress in Middle Eastern restaurants for more than 19 years.

“I understand exactly what should be done; what’s gone wrong, what is right,” Hariri said. “I am, like you say, a jack-of-all-trades.”

The restaurant, at 343 N. Central Ave., is in the building previously occupied by California cuisine-themed KIX Restaurant, which Kalfayan also owned.

Kalfayan has occupied the space on the corner of Central Avenue and Lexington since 1978, when he opened his first restaurant — which was also called Phoenicia, but served French continental cuisine.

“Things have changed a lot,” he said. “For one, I aged, wisely, for the better, just like wines.”

Kalfayan never intended to get into the restaurant business. He went to San Francisco State University and studied physical education.

“It was my dream to go home [to Lebanon] and teach,” he said. But stirrings of the 1982 Lebanon War made him reconsider going back, he said.

Kalfayan has worked in Glendale ever since, connecting with his family here after college, and always adapting to changes in the city.

“You have to cater to what your demand is,” he said.

With almost three decades of experience in restaurant ownership and management, Kalfayan said he is confident about the future of Phoenicia Restaurant.

“In the restaurant business there is no secret,” he said. “If you can create a nice atmosphere, have consistent good food and personal attention to customers, you will succeed.”