(From left, Inaam, Sonya, William and Nadia Khazaal)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Less than half a year after their sudden, shocking loss reverberated throughout West Seattle and beyond, the Khazaal family is ready to get back into the business of nourishing people with warmth and friendship as well as good food.

The family restaurant, whose newly painted awning now reads simply Phoenecia, instead of Phoenecia at Alki, is weeks away from reopening, under the wing of Inaam Khazaal, who was about to celebrate her 40th anniversary of marriage to Phoenecia proprietor Hussein Khazaal (left), when he died in his sleep last August at age 63. Instead of a family anniversary party, a celebration of the beloved restaurateur’s life brought hundreds to Alki on a mild summer night, to share stories, song, fondness, and food.

Five months later, the family business is about to reopen. “I am so proud of her,” says Sonya Khazaal, patting her mom. “She is doing so well.”

How did Mrs. Khazaal decide to go ahead and reopen the restaurant, to continue the life’s work, pride and joy of her husband?

She replies with a gentle smile and soft voice. “I thought, what would he do if I was gone? And I knew he would continue with the business. I prayed … and I feel like he said, ‘OK’.”

Son William: “She called me one day and said, ‘This is what we are doing’.”

Mrs. Khazaal and children William, Sonya and Nadia made time to meet with me this week inside the renovated restaurant, while their new chef Byron worked feverishly on test versions of dishes old and new that they plan to offer. They say they are weeks away from opening – not days, but certainly not months, either.

Some things will be different.

First, the restaurant’s look.

“It’s a shock when you walk in,” admits Sonya. “It’s different.”

It’s not a dramatic rearrangement of the space, the Khazaals say, but there are definite differences. New counter seating is in place between the dining tables and the kitchen entrance, with wine bottles in new shelving where an armoire once held them. (Hussein Khazaal’s trophy from a Bite of Seattle contest win in the mid-’80s is still there, though.) The carpet is gone . “More rustic,” offers Sonya.

Most of the east wall of the restaurant is a huge chalkboard where the daily specials will be written, not just hot dishes but also cheeses.

Specials will be a staple of the menu, rather than a fixed set of dishes you will find there time and time again. And that, they say, is in the tradition of Hussein Khazaal – “most people never saw a menu – it would be, whatever Dad would recommend.” After months of work, they believe they have recreated some of his specialties – not so easy since, William says while tapping his temple, most of his father’s recipes were in his head. But Inaam Khazaal did some of the cooking in the early days, when Phoenecia was all Middle Eastern cuisine, and with the help of the cook who worked with her husband, they have recreated some of the classics, through a lot of trial and error.

The Phoenecia lamb will be offered, says Sonya. Other dishes people would remember? I ask. Lamb with eggplant; wild mushroom pasta dish; Moroccan pasta; hummus and baba ganoush.

One example of the new food – They are experimenting with octopus, instead of calamari. And a food that’s neither old nor new may well turn out to be the smash hit of the new Phoenecia: “A lot of people don’t know he did pizza,” offers William. “He was experimenting a lot in the last six months … we want to build on that, with artisan-style pizza.”

A few examples are shown. (No, we didn’t try – our ethics code prohibits freebies, including food – but we can honestly say it looked and smelled heavenly.) Here’s one:

They’re planning ingredients like spicy coppa, braised chicken, Nicoise olives, chanterelle mushrooms, cipollini onions, and seasonal ingredients, like squash, as well as local favorites like Mama Lil’s Peppers. And they’re making their own sausage. Cheeses will include buffalo mozzarella and/or whole-milk mozzarella. Most pizzas will be drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil for a finish.

But the real signature is likely to be the crust. Call it, the 2-day, 3-minute pizza:

William has been studying pizza science. They have procured an oven that will bake the pizzas at a much-higher temperature than most, 850 degrees – that means just a few minutes. And the two days refers to the dough, which will ferment that long (part of the time in the refrigerator). When it hits the heat, the periphery of the crust puffs up – take another look at the crust in the photo above, and the air pocket inside.

Yet the Phoenecia changes are not just about what’s on the menu. The philosophy is a little different, says William. “Before, it was very upscale, white tablecloth, spendy. People would come here for a special occasion, but couldn’t come here all the time. So we wondered, how could we do it, to where people COULD come all the time? … We’ll have lots of items under $10, small plates, tapas style.”

During my visit, they bring out some examples of those dishes as well, including flatiron steak with arugula, chicken in saffron sauce, a version of caprese salad, and prawns:

“So, that’s instead of one thing for $25,” William continues. “But we’ll still have some main courses, for people who want that.” (That’s where some of his father’s famous dishes will come in.)

The staff is “old and new” – new chef Byron comes all the way from Australia – but the table-busing staff is coming back. “They’re so excited!” says Sonya. “We treat the employees like family,” adds her mom. Customers, too: “We want everyone to feel this is like home.”

And the sense of home will extend to as many local ingredients as possible – including trips to the Farmers’ Market, as Hussein Khazaal had so often made. Coffee will be from Stumptown; cured meats from Zoe and Salumi, where, Mrs. Khazaal says, her husband was the inspiration for the lamb prosciutto that you will again find at Phoenecia; ice cream from Husky Deli, and possibly another dessert offering from nearby Alki Bakery.

New chef Byron, who we are told is “camera-shy,” nonetheless finally is coaxed out of the kitchen to show the bottled beer selection that Phoenecia will offer. They arranged the 10 bottles on one of those new counters, so we got a pan to give beer aficionados a closer look:

The word “Belgian” was mentioned a lot; they say the wine selection is extensive too.

Overall, for both beverages and food, “we don’t want to be like anything else you can find on the beach,” William declares. Not that it’s a dig at anyone else nearby – in fact, a friend from Christo’s on Alki wanders in during our interview and amiably joins the chat off and on, particularly when talk turns to memories of Hussein Khazaal.

When Phoenecia reopens, it will offer dinner, from 5 till “whenever”; before long, maybe sometime in spring, they will add lunch, and eventually be open 7 days a week.

All three children will have roles in the restaurant operation, but William makes it clear: “It’s Mom’s show; we’re just here to help her.”

But just that first night is bound to be a rush – opening Phoenecia to the world, without Mr. Khazaal there.

Or, perhaps he will be, in a way. “We feel him,” says Sonya, “this crazy strength. We weren’t sure we could do it, but … it seems very powerful, and healing.”