New State College restaurant features menu inspired by ‘worldly cuisine.’ Here’s a look

One of State College’s busiest restaurateurs has opened up another eatery, with his latest serving up a marriage of Eastern and Western cuisines that pays homage to a near and dear family member.

The Fatoum Bistro held its soft opening on Thursday at 532 Westerly Parkway. According to co-owner Hitham Hiyajneh, the eatery was originally supposed to open a few weeks ago under the name “Silk Road,” but he and his team decided to change the name and push back the opening so that adjustments could be made to the menu.

Hiyajneh said that the items on Fatoum Bistro’s menu are all freshly made, and were influenced by the cuisines of regions across the world.

“Our cuisine was designed like a blend of the West and East together — that’s why our breakfast has a lot of influence from Europe and from America,” Hiyajneh said. “We have the pancakes, the waffles and the crepes, but then we have the Middle Eastern food right there alongside them, with dishes that include stuff like faba beans, hummus and falafel. ... The flavors that these dishes contain will really set us apart I think.”

So far, according to Hiyajneh, the bistro has received positive feedback from customers, with a particularly popular dish being the “Fungus Amongus” — an eggs Benedict variant that includes mixed field mushrooms, two poached eggs, pesto, spinach, marinated feta, creamy mushroom sauce, tempura enoki mushrooms and manchego cheese, served on sourdough bread.

The bistro’s breakfast menu also features six other eggs Benedict flavors, five types of omelets, five breakfast sandwich options, sweet and savory crepes, waffles, French toast, pancakes and yogurt parfaits. The breakfast menu’s “Middle Eastern breakfast” section includes choices like arnabeet, ful mudammas, a labneh plate and two varieties of shakshuka.

Diners looking to eat lunch at the bistro will find an assortment of salads and soups on the menu, with the soups offered at $5.99 for a cup, and $7.99 for a bowl. Also included in the lunch menu are nine Middle Eastern-inspired appetizers such as hummus plates, fatteh eggplant, grape leaves and samosa.

Some of the entrees listed include arayes, a number of chicken dishes such as butter chicken, chicken liver and chicken tikki masala, sakalans, a street food sandwich and more.

“As you know the menu was partly inspired by worldly cuisine, but much of it — and actually the name of the restaurant too — was inspired by my mother. Her name was Fatima, but her nickname was Fatoum,” Hiyajney said. “She passed away last year, and because she was the matriarch of the family and taught us all how to cook, we named the restaurant in her honor.”

Hiyajneh also put another homage to his mother in the business’s logo — the words “mom’s cooking,” right underneath her nickname.

For the first few week of business, the Fatoum Bistro will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m, seven days a week, but Hiyajneh would like to expand the hours to be open from 7 a.m to 9 p.m. by the beginning of April.

Hiyajneh has seen several restaurants open in State College in recent years, most recently Cluck & Catch, a fried chicken and fish restaurant located beside the bistro.

His other restaurants include the downtown State College Yallah Taco locations, Pita Cabana and Yallah Chicken & Taco, a restaurant that opened last August in the space that was previously home to Bradley’s Cheesesteaks & Hoagies.