Golden hour
Bloomfield’s Khalil’s celebrates 50 years serving Middle Eastern cuisine
From the beginning of Khalil’s, back in the early 1970s, the atmosphere was festive. Dalel Khalil recalls that, when her father, Mikhail Khalil, was backed up in the kitchen, mother Agnes Khalil would announce to customers that there was a change of plans. The dining room would then transform into an Arabic and Greek party.
“My sister and I would belly dance, and customers would go back to their cars for instruments,” says Dalel. “We’d have a party while waiting on the food!”
But though the elder Khalils have since passed, their nurturing and partying spirit continues to live within the Syrian restaurant, at 4757 Baum Blvd., with sisters Leila and Dalel at the helm.
To celebrate the Bloomfieldbased business’s 50th year, the two have organized a multiday festival for Friday and Saturday. The event will feature a professional belly dancer, a henna artist and a quartet, playing classical Arabic music, from Carnegie Mellon University, in addition to other musical guests. Both days, a cake will be cut at 8 p.m. to honor Agnes unofficially opening the restaurant at that time so many years ago. There is no cover charge, and sandwiches, coffee and wine will be sold to guests.
The sisters have run the restaurant since their father died in 2018; Agnes died in 2003. Leila, like their father, cooks, and Dalel, like their mother, works the front of the house. (In addition to Leila and Dalel, the Khalil parents are survived by children Michael, who is Leila’s twin, Zelfa and Tamam Mansour.)
Also like their parents, Dalel, the youngest sibling, and Leila have continued to give back to the community. Khalil’s has partnered
with nonprofit Hello Neighbor many times over the past five years, for instance, including a recent fundraiser to welcome Afghan refugees to Pittsburgh. Dalel stresses the importance of continuing to honor her family’s Syrian culture, and other Arab cultures, as well.
“One of the things we love most is not only the food but Khalil’s willingness to welcome and hire incoming refugees,” says Sloane Davidson, founder and CEO of Hello Neighbor, which provides support to refugees and recent immigrants. She says that Khalil’s has continued to be a “welcoming face” to immigrants and refugees.
The restaurant, dating to 1972, is filled with charming touches: Chandeliers hang throughout the dining room, which is also decorated with intricately patterned walls and rugs, and photographs of the elder Khalils. A night at Khalil’s can easily feel like you’re having dinner at your grandparents’ house. Outside, the patio is strewn with hanging lights.
As Dalel recalls, the genesis of the restaurant traces to $20 that her mother owed to a neighbor. At around 8 one night, Agnes was cooking for her family when she noticed onlookers peering into the window. She welcomed them inside and fed them authentic Mediterranean food. She charged her guests $20 and handed the money directly to her neighbor to settle her debt.
The matriarch, Dalel says, didn’t expect her kindness and generosity to outlive her via the restaurant, which continues to serve, decades later, Middle Eastern cuisine.
An update to what the original owners cooked for their family years ago, today’s menu features Middle Eastern staples such as lamb kebabs, falafel and spanakopita (a pie of phyllo dough baked in butter and filled with spinach and feta). The restaurant also serves Lebanese, Greek and Palestinian wines.
Over the years, Khalil’s has faced challenges both business-related and personal. Agnes died in 2003, and, nearly 12 years later, the restaurant temporarily closed its doors as Khalil children took care of their father. Many customers thought the doors would never open again, but, Dalel says, Mikhail would not allow the children to close its doors to a community in need.
After three years, the restaurant reopened in 2018 with a renovated dining room. Leila had imported six windows from Australia that would open the dining room to the streets of Bloomfield. Six months later, their father died.
COVID-19 and its resultant labor shortages again forced decisions regarding the restaurant’s future: Should the Khalils close the doors for good? Dalel and Leila instead switched to takeout during the early stages of pandemic, remaining a two-woman show for more than a year.
Then one day, Leila — without Dalel’s knowledge — took it upon herself to open the dining room back up.
“One day Leila’s like, ‘Dalel, you have three tables in the dining room,’” Dalel recalls. “Ever since then, we’ve been open for dining.”
The sisters are not running the restaurant completely alone: Longtime customers and family friends often step in to help when the restaurant is too busy, Dalel says.
This all-for-one, one-for-all spirit continues her parents’ legacy, as well. “My father never cared about status or money. It was God, church, family and work,” she says. “He’d give people in need food out the back.”
Khalil’s 50th anniversary celebration: The two-day celebration is 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Khalil’s, 4757 Baum Blvd. A warning from Dalel Khalil: “You will need a foot massage the third day. There will be lots of dancing!”
The restaurant will close temporarily to regroup after the celebration, but the family assures the doors will open yet again.