Story · since 2023
Twenty-two seats,
one wood-fire.
Sumac opened on Spenard in 2023 in a former shoe-repair shop. Twenty-two seats, an open kitchen, and a salvaged brick oven from a closed pizzeria in Wasilla.
Chef Lila Haddad cooked at Zahav in Philly, then ran a wood-fire stall at the Anchorage Saturday Market for three summers. Sumac is what she built when she stopped traveling.
The menu lives between Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. The wood is Alaska birch. Salt and acid are non-negotiable; sumac and pomegranate molasses run through nearly every plate. Service is small, attentive, never rushed.
Eater AK named us best new restaurant in 2025. ADN called us "the room you book three weeks out." We're flattered, and the wait still gets you a seat at the bar without a reservation.
A kitchen this small has no business cooking this confidently.