ottawa foodies

i am not sure how to add a link to a current vendor, but last night i bought some spinach and feta fatayer at shiraz grocery store:
ottawafoodies.com/vendor/1427

this is the stuffed pastry and it was so delicious. definitely one of the best fatayers i have had in ottawa. there were also cheese and sausage and cheese options.

Incidentally, when there are several different spellings for a food (as is the case for many ethnic items), I usually go with the most common one. In this case, Fatayer is much more common than Fataya so I went with that. However, the "a" spelling is still preserved behind the scenes as a hidden keyword. A search for "fataya" will find this entry. Hope that makes sense! :)

One user sent me a message to say that his Lebanese relatives use Mankouche for the pizza and Fatayer for the folded thing. That's in line with what *most* places on the internet say. I think in this case, I'll create a Mankoushe entry for Helen's place but add a note that it's called "Fataya" on her menu. How about that?

Anyone know what other Lebanese places in town call their pizza? The stuff I wrote about is the pizza, not the folded up stuff, but Helen very clearly calls it "Fataya" (spelled with "a" at the end on her menu)

This is very confusing! It seems that Lebanese pizza is usally called "Mankoushe" and it can be topped with all sorts of things: cheese, za'atar, spinach, etc. www.bloggingbeirut.com

Fatayer (also Fataya) is in fact usually a *stuffed* pastry, where the pastry can be replaced with pita/pizza dough. The "toppings" in this case go inside (unlike pizza) but it seems there are exceptions. Check out the google images: images.google.ca and images.google.ca

So are Mankoushe and Fatayer the same thing? Is someone just making a mistake in naming or do their implementations differ and converge depending on the country or region? Inquiring minds want to know!

Helen's fataya is extremely yummy - nice crisp crust with lots of toppings. There are several different kinds - all of which I enjoy. She also makes mini fataya as finger food for catered events, but you should order those ahead.

this is the definitely one of the best fatayers i have had in ottawa. i had the spinach and feta cheese, but there were also just cheese or sausage and cheese options.

my husband and i split one as a snack, but i could have easily eaten it by myself.

Boushey's has great fatayer (spinach or lamb/beef/onion - triangles). Always very fresh and great to grab for lunch.