Nothing surprised me more when I moved to the Midwest a few years ago than how many new flavors I would get the chance to encounter. Where I live in Michigan, I have access to Middle Eastern flavors that my tongue and taste buds had no idea existed before. Suddenly, my kitchen vocabulary expanded to include pomegranate molasses, za’atar, and tahini. Every bite was a geography lesson wrapped in parsley, olive oil, and spice. Food stopped being just fuel; it became a playful poem made of citrus, herbs, and grains, with cumin as punctuation.
Now that I’ve locked in a couple of these flavors locally, I make it a mission to hunt them down wherever I go. That’s one of the reasons the bright flavors and hearty vegetarian entrées of Sanaa’s 8th Street Gourmet in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, called to me so strongly. To be honest, they had me Googling flight prices before I finished reading the menu. When a restaurant takes beans, greens, and grains and turns them into a reason to book travel, you know you’ve stumbled onto something rare—and magical!
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Sanaa’s 8th Street Gourmet sits inside the East Market arts hub at 8th and Railroad Center, a part of Sioux Falls that locals love for its galleries, boutiques, and live music. This pocket of the city hums with energy… on any given Saturday, you might catch a concert, wander a pop-up market, or just people-watch with a coffee in hand. The vibe is friendly but not sleepy, creative but not pretentious. It’s the kind of neighborhood where eating something as humble as a salad can feel like an art form.
And let’s talk about that salad… the most popular dish at Sanaa’s 8th Street Gourmet. The tabbouli here is finely chopped parsley folded together with bulgur wheat, tomatoes, onions, and kissed with olive oil and lemon juice. It’s not heavy, not overcomplicated. It’s the flavor equivalent of opening a window on the first warm spring day. It tastes like the color green should taste: sharp, bright, and alive. Plenty of restaurants across America offer their version of tabbouli, but Sanaa’s makes you want to write a thank-you letter to the parsley farmer.
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That said, salad isn’t the only thing happening here. The menu reads like a love letter to vegetables and grains, written by someone who knows exactly how to make them shine. Vegetarian Kibbeh—made from bulgur, potato, and soy protein—arrives as golden patties stuffed with sautéed onions, served alongside that same lemony salad and cool yogurt cucumber sauce. Then there’s Shish Tawook: tender chicken cooked in a cumin-kissed red sauce, nestled on basmati rice. Even the side dishes refuse to be background players. Quinoa salad sparkles with ginger and citrus, house salad crunches with garbanzos, and the Fatayer (a Mediterranean cousin of the calzone) emerges from the stone oven stuffed with everything from spicy eggplant and cranberries to mushroom shawarma and tahini.
Chef and owner Sanaa Abourezk is the reason behind this edible theater. Born in Syria, she grew up surrounded by fresh ingredients and simple recipes that leaned on time, care, and spice instead of shortcuts. After studying engineering, she leaned into her true calling: food. Now she’s not only a chef but also a cookbook author, a Food Network competitor (yes, she’s faced Bobby Flay), and a James Beard Award finalist. She’s also deeply rooted in her community, raising over $100,000 for global causes through her cooking. When people call her the heart of Sioux Falls dining, they truly mean it.
The restaurant itself keeps things refreshingly real. Everything is made daily from scratch with fresh, seasonal ingredients. The place is proudly vegetarian- and vegan-friendly, with gluten-free and peanut-free options. The vibe is casual, welcoming, and filled with light… no hushed tones or starched linens, just the clink of stainless cutlery and the sound of regulars catching up over plates of hummus. The only catch? Hours are limited, so plan carefully if you want to catch the most popular dish at Sanaa’s 8th Street Gourmet before the doors close mid-afternoon.
Visiting Sioux Falls for food alone would be worth it, but there’s plenty else to do nearby. Falls Park is a short stroll away, where the Big Sioux River cascades over pink quartzite in a way that makes you wonder why more postcards don’t feature South Dakota. So yes, come for the arts, the music, the waterfalls… but do not, under any circumstances, skip Sanaa’s 8th Street Gourmet. Because nothing will surprise you more, or delight you longer, than a plate of herbs, lemon, and crunch that makes every other salad you’ve eaten feel like a warm-up act.
Planning to take a flavor adventure of your own? Let our Vacation Planner help you organize it!
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Dining and Cooking