Damas makes its ambition clear before the meal gets very far. This is Syrian cooking presented with the scale, polish and confidence of a destination restaurant, not translated into something more generically luxurious for the occasion.

The menu is full of ingredients that give the cooking its identity: Aleppo pepper, tahini, lamb, pistachio, yogurt, pomegranate and smoke. Hummus appears in several forms; kibbeh brings lamb and pistachio together; fattet makdous layers eggplant, lamb, yogurt, tomato, pita, pine nuts and ghee. A mixed grill is meant to be shared rather than contemplated.

What stands out is the restaurant’s refusal to separate regional character from luxury. In North America, immigrant cuisines have often been expected to prove their authenticity partly through low prices and modest surroundings. Damas rejects that expectation. Syrian food is the occasion.

The combinations themselves keep the richness in check. Yogurt works against smoke, pomegranate against meat, herbs and acidity against fat. Pistachio is not simply garnish. The food depends on contrasts that keep an abundant meal from becoming monotonous.

There is history behind any Syrian restaurant operating at this level after years of war and displacement, but dinner does not need to become a seminar for that history to matter. Damas makes a quieter point. A cuisine can travel, change context and acquire a grander room without losing the things that made it specific.