Dining together can foster friendship and more.
Hasan Ayyad, whose close friend Amir Wagner owns Wagner’s Market in Bywater, is close with Omar Jamhour, whose family owns I & M Autoplex on N. Claiborne Avenue. The two share experiences in the city of Ramallah, a Palestinian city on the West Bank, about an hour north of Jerusalem. Ayyad was born in the U.S., but went to school in Ramallah, where he met his friend.
A frequent guest at the Jamhour dinner table, Ayyad couldn’t get enough of the family’s food. Their dinners were prepared by Omar’s father, Ayoub, who’d become famous in Jerusalem for his shawarma over a 30-year career as a chef. Ayoub and his wife Mayson moved to New Orleans a few years ago to be closer to their four sons and daughter living in New Orleans – another daughter is still in Ramallah. He had a restaurant on the outskirts of Jerusalem called Moshiko, a name derived from Moses, considered an important prophet in the Quran. But he grew tired of the upheaval in the region and closed the restaurant.
Ayyad, who studied electrical engineering at UNO, has a head for business. He owns Bywater Geeks, a mobile phone and computer repair business set up in a corner of Wagner’s Market. “I liked his cooking so much,” Ayyad says. “He’s an amazing chef. I wanted people here to be able to taste his food.”
So when the space next to Wagner’s became available, he jumped at it “I saw an opportunity. I pitched Ayoub and his son the idea of opening a restaurant, with me as an investor.”
The three partners, Ayyad and Ayoub and Omar Jamhour, opened Moshiko Falafel & Shawarma on July 4, after spending a year renovating the space. Although it was most recently a daiquiri shop, the space was the home to Restaurant Mandich from 1922 until it closed following Hurricane Katrina.
The new Moshiko is a sparkling clean space, with gold-veined marble floors and a huge marble sign. There is plenty of room for 20 guests, and outside seating is in the works. Diners order from a uniformed team member at the back kitchen counter, with its serving trays full of chef Ayoub’s house-made salads, pickled vegetables, sauces and sides.
Behind that counter, Ayoub oversees two vertical shawarma rotisseries, slowly rotating over a hot grill. The word “shawarma” was coined from the Turkish word döner, which means turning. The seasoned, stacked meat was first served in Turkey during the late Ottoman Empire in the 18th century. Although it’s similar to Mexican al pastor or Greek gyro, shawarma is in a class by itself.
The cooking process takes at least 24 hours. In Moshiko’s case, chicken and beef tenderloin are marinated overnight with the chef’s spice blend, which has hints of cumin, paprika and cayenne. The trick is to slice the meat paper thin, compress it on a vertical spit, and roast it low and slow. “It’s very hot work,” chef Ayoub says. “The meat has to be juicy.”
Crispy falafel is another of Ayoub’s specialties. The flash-fried flattened balls are made with a mixture of chickpeas, fresh herbs and spice. Like the shawarma, they’re available on a sandwich or in a bowl.
Sandwiches are served on a flatbread called laffa, and diners can add sides and sauces. Moshiko offers creamy hummus, grilled red cabbage, pickled peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, pickled red onions, a tahini sauce and zhoug, a spicy green sauce.
“I was famous in Jerusalem for my shawarma and falafel,” says the 59-year-old chef. “Everything I did there, I do here. I’m very happy to be here in New Orleans with my family.”
The partners aren’t planning to serve alcohol, but guests can bring their own. Keeping it in the family, Wagner’s sells whatever diners may want, right next door.
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