Michelle Berg/Saskatoon StarPhoenix)
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Istifo took over the restaurant from a previous owner and made a lot of changes, including revamping the menu and adding new ovens and fridges to serve more and different styles of food.
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Star of Ishtar not only serves Assyrian food, but also Western, Italian and Greek. It's a family-run family restaurant with Montha's husband Esam creating part of the menu and their three kids all helping in the restaurant.
Q: What kinds of food do you serve at Star of Ishtar Restaurant?
A: There is Middle Eastern food, but there is a lot of Western and even Italian and Greek food. There is a wide variety at our family restaurant. We have seafood, we have pizza, wraps, chicken tenders and breaded cutlets. We have chicken parmesan, lamb chop, burgers, pasta, Mexican omelette, egg salad, Caesar salad and many Assyrian options.
The Western food is all created by my husband Esam. I created the Middle Eastern menu. I know how to do Western food too, but my specialty is Assyrian.
Q: What are some of your popular menu items?
A: The Ishtar plate. It comes with three different kinds of meat -- chicken tikka, beef tikka and Turkish kebab -- and it's served with bread, salad, rice and soup. You get a lot of food with our orders. And we even have Ishtar for two, so it's cheaper, with even more food. Two people coming, instead of ordering two different things, can have this one.
Dolmas is one of our best appetizers, and is cooked in a lemony broth with fresh herbs and spices. This is famous in our Babylon and Assyrian culture. It comes with vegetables mixed with rice on stuffed grape leaves.
Q: What makes you stand out from other restaurants?
A: We make great food to serve to great people. We don't want you to go to a restaurant where you get small food servings and then when you leave, you're not even full. If you eat here, you're going to go home full.
And we make everything fresh. When we cook, it has to go out the same day. If it doesn't go, it's garbage. And our prices are really good. Some stuff on the menu, we don't even make money out of it.
Q: What is your background?
A: I was born in Iraq, and lived in Turkey before I moved here. I (lived) in Kindersley for five years and moved here to Saskatoon in 2005 when I had my kids.
I've been working in restaurants for 25 years since I came here. I started as a dishwasher and a prep cook, and then a cook. I've done cleaning too for almost 10 years now, cleaning small lounges and restaurants. And then I heard the Ishtar Restaurant in Sutherland was shutting down. I thought this was too bad. I didn't want the name to go away. I told the owner I'd buy it from him. I think this was a good chance for me to start my own restaurant.
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I already have a small restaurant (Rail Side Café at the CN Curling Club) but it's only open in winter time. I used to run it with my husband and kids, but now one person can run it.
Q: Did you make some changes when you took over Star of Ishtar?
A: Since I took over I put in a lot of money, especially for kitchen equipment and for a computer system and fridges. I bought four fridges. The previous style of cooking was way different than my style. I bought a double-sized oven for pizza and different ovens for kebabs and other food. I bought new tables and chairs, and I'm going to be changing that. I am doing it a little bit slowly.
Q: Why did you choose the name, Star of Ishtar Restaurant?
A: Ishtar is a Babylon gate that was built over 2,500 years ago. A lot of people don't know about Ishtar Gate, but it's a famous Middle Eastern place that represents our Assyrian culture. We have many foods named Ishtar on our menu.
Q: What kind of atmosphere can people expect in your restaurant?
A: It's a quiet and nice environment, where we always play our Turkish music. We have lions decorating our back wall. These are from the gate of Ishtar. The animals on the front window are also from the Ishtar Gate. Most of the items in the restaurant are from our culture. We have our Assyrian flag in the lounge.
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Q: Do you serve breakfast?
A: We have Western traditional breakfasts with eggs and pancakes. There's a Mexican omelette with mushrooms, onions, peppers and jalapenos with salsa and cheese. Our most popular breakfast is the Hungry Man's. You get three eggs and beef kebab. Our breakfasts come with our own recipe Ishtar bread. It's a common bread in Assyria.
Q: Do you have some Assyrian takes on Western food?
A: Our Ishtar burger is very popular. It's grilled with onion and mozzarella cheese, lettuce and tomato and served with fries and Caesar salad. Our pizza is really good, too. Our Ishtar special pizza stands out because it's cooked with shawarma meat, which is beef with different spices on it. Anything with the Ishtar name, people like it.
Q: What stands out on your drink menu?
A: We have Persian Empire Arak Saggi. It is a traditional Persian spirit, made from sultana raisins, giving it a sweet flavour. Nobody else I know of in Saskatoon has it. We have two beers on tap now, and I'm going to be bringing in more. We also have a Middle East Chai steamed tea. That tea is famous. Even people who don't drink tea, they drink that tea.
Q: What's on your desert menu?
A: Our baklawa stands out. It's a mouth-watering dessert of layered golden filo pastry with crushed nuts and a drizzle of sugar syrup.
Q: Do you have a seniors menu?
A: We did, but I made it available now not only for seniors but for everyone. There is a smaller-sized order of chicken tenders, fish n chips, Iraqi kebabs and other options. It's a small plate with big flavour.
Q: You also offer catering services?
A: We do a lot of catering. Sometimes we do that here at the restaurant, but we can take it somewhere else. We cook everything here, and we take it there. We normally seat up to 180 here. Some people want us to serve the food, too, but others just want us to take the food. We can provide that service if needed, serving 500 or more if needed.
We do weddings, birthdays and engagement parties, baptisms, all kinds of celebrations. Every month there's something going on.
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