New Danville Restaurant From Michelin-Starred Chef Blends Lebanese Food, Beer Garden

DANVILLE, CA — Most fine dining is served indoors on fine linen tablecloths. Most beer gardens serve burgers, fries, and wings. But a new restaurant in Danville is merging those two worlds.

Albi’s, which opened April 24 at 455 Hartz Avenue, combines Middle Eastern food cooked by a Michelin-starred chef with an expansive outdoor beer garden. It is the project of Danville native Monique Moufarrej, who said she wanted to combine her Lebanese heritage with her love of fine wine and beer in a beautiful outdoor setting.

“I always knew that my passion for Lebanese food would drive the restaurant I would one day open. However, most of my career has been spent cooking in full service, fine dining restaurants so this beer garden concept was as much of a surprise to my family and friends as it was to me,” Moufarrej told Patch in an interview. “It just made a lot of sense that I could take this outdoor, casual, communal concept (beer garden) and pair it with the food I'm passionate about making (Lebanese/Middle Eastern) and have a really well curated beverage program.

Moufarrej grew up in Danville and her parents owned Incontro Ristorante, an Italian restaurant located just next door to Albi’s. After graduating San Ramon Valley High School, she attended the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena. She then moved to New York City, where she became one of the youngest-ever sous chefs at Del Posto, a four-star Manhattan restaurant. She eventually moved back to San Francisco to be closer to her family, where she helped Rich Table gain its first Michelin Star. She then helped open Angler San Francisco, which received a Michelin Star in its first year and was named Esquire’s Best New Restaurant in America.

After five years in San Francisco, Moufarrej decided to move to Danville, which is near her family and offers a warm climate ideal for outdoor dining. She decided to name the restaurant Albi’s, after an Arabic term of affection meaning “my heart.”

“I saw an opportunity to add something to the Danville community that I felt was missing, which was a beer garden style space with fresh, seasonal food. A casual place for young families to hang out with their kids and for locals to meet up with friends,” she said.

The Albi’s menu offers Middle Eastern staples like fresh hummus, baba ganoush, and olives. The centerpiece is the freshly-grilled chicken, lamb, and vegetable kabobs, which are served with pita bread and house-made pickled vegetables. These are paired with 16 rotating taps of 8 Bay Area beers and wines, including Cellarmaker, Original Pattern, Ghost Town, Humble Sea, and Lebanese pilsener Almaza. The wine list includes low-intervention, ethically-sourced California wines, and will soon expand to include wines from Europe and Lebanon.

Albi’s is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 455 Hartz Avenue. Visit albisdanville.com for more information.

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