Tarragon Middle East Market has been open in South Miami since 1994. Hassan Mehaydli runs the place with his twin brother. I went in to check out the place, got a free sample of baklawa (AKA baklava) and asked Hassan a couple of questions. BTW, the baklawa was awesome.
New Times: Is it mostly Middle Eastern people that come in here?
Hassan: Nah, we get Latin, Jewish, Arabic, Middle Eastern... most of them are Jewish. Everything on the shelves is imported from Lebanon or made by us here. We have kibbeh, gyro, falafel. We have organic vegetables from California. We Lebanese know these kinds of fruits and vegetables. You can't find them down here. We sell a lot of waterpipes and the tobacco too.
NT: What's the baklawa made out of?
HM: Sugar, rosewater, phylo dough, walnuts, pistachios.