A popular Palestinian restaurant is expanding to New Jersey

Al Badawi, a popular Palestinian restaurant in New York, will be opening its first New Jersey location in the fall.

According to What Now New York, Al Badawi has Levantine staples such as mezze platters, as well as unique dishes such as malfouf, Middle Eastern-style flatbread pizzas with various regional toppings, fasolia, a green bean and beef tomato stew, bamia, a tomato stew with okra and beef, and ouzi, a rice dish with meat and vegetables.

The man behind the restaurant, Abdul Elenani, owns a farm in Pittstown where he sources many of his meats. According to Eater, that is the reason their lamb chops are so good.

These may be the best lamb chops you’ve ever tasted. Elenani’s partner in Al Badawi is Akram Nassir, owner of Yemen Cafe across the street, where lamb chops are also a specialty. He previously operated a short-lived cafe and used book store in the same space with the unfortunate name of A Novel Kitchen.

Eater says:

But here you can never go wrong ordering the dishes you already know, and favorites like baba ghanoush and the walnut and red-pepper paste called muhammara are prepared at Al Badawi in superior versions.

For me, food isn’t enough to keep me driven,” Elenani told Eater. “There has to be a bigger purpose and the bigger purpose is to bring awareness to the culture of Palestine. That it’s an actual country, that actually exists and has for thousands of years.

An official opening date for the Somerville location hasn’t been announced; according to their Facebook page, it will be Sep./Oct.

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