Long before there was a Sunnin Lebanese Café in Los Angeles, there was a small village in Lebanon, a family kitchen, and recipes made the way they had been made for generations.
Those are the flavors Em Tony brought with her when she came to California nearly four decades ago — and they would eventually become the heart of Sunnin.
It Started With a Love for Feeding People
Before opening Sunnin, Em Tony worked at a restaurant, and also began doing catering from home. Cooking for larger groups gave her the opportunity to share the Lebanese dishes she knew so well with more and more people.
But eventually, she wanted to build something of her own.
Starting a restaurant required an enormous leap of faith. Em Tony invested her life savings into opening the first Sunnin location.
There were no big investors behind the concept and no large restaurant group providing a safety net. Sunnin began with hard work, family recipes, and the belief that there was a place in Los Angeles for honest Lebanese cooking made with care.
The Early Days Were Anything but Easy
Those first years demanded sacrifices that customers walking into Sunnin today might never imagine.
Em Tony was living in Glendale while operating the restaurant, and the days at Sunnin were incredibly long. At times, rather than making the commute home only to return a few hours later, she slept at the restaurant.
Money was tight, and every dollar mattered.
When kitchen equipment needed to be upgraded, replacing it wasn’t always financially possible. When the restaurant’s hood broke down, repairing or replacing such an expensive and essential piece of equipment became a major challenge.
Even air conditioning was a luxury the business couldn’t always afford. That meant working through long days in an extremely hot kitchen because keeping the restaurant going had to come first.
But Em Tony wasn’t doing it alone.
A Family Restaurant in Every Sense
Her children worked alongside her as Sunnin grew.
That family involvement became part of the restaurant’s identity — not just behind the scenes, but in the atmosphere Sunnin created for its guests.
For Em Tony, feeding people had always been personal. A table full of food wasn’t simply a meal; it was hospitality. It was family. It was the way people gathered back home in Lebanon.
That feeling became part of Sunnin.
Bringing the Flavors of Lebanon to Los Angeles
As the restaurant grew, more Angelenos discovered the dishes Em Tony had known her entire life.
Fresh hummus and baba ghanouj. Colorful vegetarian mezze. Fragrant herbs and vegetables. Chicken kebabs hot from the grill. Shawarma packed with flavor. Traditional dishes prepared patiently instead of taking shortcuts.
The menu expanded, catering became an important part of the business, and Sunnin grew far beyond the tiny operation it had once been.
But the philosophy behind the food remained remarkably simple:
Cook Lebanese food the way you would cook it for your own family.
More Than a Lebanese Restaurant
Over the years, Sunnin has welcomed generations of customers from across Los Angeles. Some came looking for the Lebanese dishes they grew up eating. Others walked through the door knowing very little about Lebanese cuisine and discovered a new favorite.
That’s one of the things we’re proudest of.
Lebanese food is meant to be shared. A table filled with hummus, tabbouleh, baba ghanouj, kebabs, shawarma, warm pita and mezze has a way of bringing people together — regardless of where they came from.
And after all these years, that is still what Sunnin is about.
From Lebanon, With Love
What began with one woman’s life savings, family recipes and an extraordinary amount of determination has grown into a restaurant that has been part of the Los Angeles community for decades.
The equipment has changed. The restaurant has grown. Thousands of meals have left our kitchen, and Sunnin’s food has found its way onto family tables, into offices, and to celebrations throughout Los Angeles.
But behind every plate is still the same idea that started it all:
Good food should feel like someone made it for you at home.
That’s the Sunnin Em Tony set out to create.
And that’s the Sunnin we’re proud to share with Los Angeles today.