By Nancy Vienneau
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Nashville Tennessean) — Lyra is small constellation known for its most brilliant star, Vega. While we don’t know what prompted chef Hrant Arakelian and his wife Elizabeth Endicott to choose this name for their modern Middle Eastern restaurant in East Nashville, we do find it fitting. Among the constellations of restaurants throughout our city, Lyra beams brightly.
This stellar place recently opened in the former Holland House Bar and Refuge, where Arakelian had served as executive chef since 2014. He’s cooked in a few Nashville restaurants over the past decade, such as Rumours East and Etch. Here, though, he is able to give the fullest expression to the foods that are part of his heritage.
Arakelian’s father was born in Lebanon and his mother in east Tennessee. As a young child, Arakelian lived in Beirut and Muscat, Oman. Even after the family returned to Tennessee, his parents continued to embrace the cooking traditions of the Middle East. At Lyra, we suspect, Arakelian has taken those recipes as inspiration, and made them his own.
In re-imagining the restaurant, a harmony of blues, greens and grays, Arakelian also installed a wood-fired oven, visible from the dining room. It plays an intrinsic role in his menu. Beautiful breads — puffed and lightly charred pitas, Kurdish loaves known as samoons, Lebanese flatbreads painted with za’atar-infused oil, and fatayers, savory stuffed pastry triangles — emerge fragrant and yeasty from the glowing oven.
Impressive, too, is Arakelian’s use of fresh herbs, freshly ground spices and dried peppers in vibrant combinations, which inform much of the cuisine. It makes dining at Lyra both an adventure and a pleasure.
