Azure To Color Your World With Middle Eastern Cuisine

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Azure to color your world with Middle Eastern cuisine

Azure Restaurant plans to open next month on Briarwood Circle as the latest entry in Ann Arbor for Middle Eastern dining.

“We’ve always felt that Ann Arbor really needs a nice Lebanese and Middle Eastern place,” says Amal Sabbagh, whose partners are her brother, Michael, and their friend, Marcus Sabbagh. Amal and Michael are originally from Israel. Marcus is from Lebanon.

Marcus Sabbagh, who is no relation to Amal and Michael Sabbagh, is an engineer at the Ford Motor Co. Michael Sabbagh owns Sergeant Pepper’s General Store, 1028 E. University St. in Ann Arbor, and Amal Sabbagh has been a Realtor.

The partners have gathered old family recipes and are completely remodeling the 167-seat restaurant. They chose “Azure” as an English word derived from Arabic. In English, it means blue (Amal Sabbagh’s favorite color); in Arabic, it means “to visit,” she says.

Azure replaces The Mandarin restaurant, which closed recently. Its owners could not be reached for comment.