When I lived in Brooklyn, my go-to takeout order was the chicken shawarma from a Middle Eastern place called Zaytoons. The pita stuffed with chicken, pickles, lettuce, tomato, onion and tahini would spill out as I ate it — which I did almost weekly, despite the mess. The tightly wrapped version at South Burlington's similarly named new halal restaurant, Zaytoona, was infinitely easier to eat. Folded like a burrito and seared shut, it was neat enough that I wolfed it in the car without spilling a bite. It was also tastier: just vibrantly spiced, succulent chicken and zingy garlic toum sauce, minus the filler vegetables whose sole purpose seems to be to fall onto your lap. "Some places add lettuce or pickles, but that's not how it's authentically served in the Middle East," Zaytoona chef Mohamad Habahbeh told me. "That's how they make it full," co-chef Hashem Abdallah added with a laugh. The two Jordanian-born chefs take a hard line on that authenticity, which they define as following recipes and sourcing ingredients directly from their home region. And they serve dishes exactly as they'd be served at home — down to the 32 spices used to marinate the shawarma and the side of sumac-seasoned French fries that accompany it. Owner Arwa Dawman opened Zaytoona in early September in the former Heart n Soul by Mark BBQ space in South Burlington's burgeoning city center. The small team — just Habahbeh and Abdallah in the kitchen, occasionally recruiting Dawman to help prep — is serving by-the-book dishes that people eat every day in the Levantine area of the Middle East, including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. The menu is relatively tight for now, with mezze dishes such as fattoush salad, lentil soup, tabbouleh, hummus and baba ghanoush; falafel, lamb shawarma and chicken shawarma sandwiches and bowls; and several desserts and nonalcoholic drinks such as tea, a lemon-mint refresher and pomegranate lemonade. The menu will expand as soon as they find additional staff, Habahbeh said. Dawman is new to the restaurant world. Originally from Yemen, she moved to Vermont in 1998 and previously worked as a paraeducator. Her goal with Zaytoona is to create a warm, welcoming place for Vermont's growing Middle Eastern community, she said, and to share the region's culture with everyone in the area. "Having customers tell us we remind them of their food and heritage is…