Inside Oakland’s new chef-driven Shawarmaji
This is seriously epic Arabic street food
Oakland chef Mohammad Abutaha’s star is rapidly rising. It wasn’t long ago that the young Jordanian chef’s street food pop-up, Shawarmaji, was drawing lines at Reem’s California for delicious, griddle-pressed falafel and chicken shawarma sandwiches laced with toum, a potent, housemade garlic sauce that requires a chaser of the mint or cola variety. Now, the former sous chef of San Francisco’s Noosh has found a permanent home inside Forage Kitchen, the former digs of Hotboys. Shawarmaji has been open less than a month and already the lines are back for Abutaha’s five-item menu, which now includes a shawarmatopped kale salad. The restaurant is open late on weekends and nothing is over $15. Here’s our experience on a recent Saturday night.
THE VIBE >>
Shawarmaji is tiny, but it swells with pride. The space is bright and clean, with high ceilings, a small counter, a single table for six and loud Arabic beats. There’s more seating outside, but I’d say half the customers get their food to go, especially when lines get long. We loved the poster on the wall, a drawing of Chef Mo and this under it: “Got toum?” You’ll spot him in the open kitchen, babysitting or carving from the vertical meat spit.
THE FOOD >>
We’ve all had bad shawarma. It’s gray, dry and of questionable origin. Shawarmaji’s is the opposite. Chef Mo’s spice-marinated chicken is juicy, vibrant and packed with flavor. It comes as a traditional flatbread wrap stuffed with pickles and toum ($10, $12 with fries or $11 with cheddar and shatta, a Lebanese hot sauce) or as a Shawarma Arabi Plate ($15), which is our pick. Chef Mo takes a tightly wrapped shawarma — sans toum and pickles — and slices it into bites, with French fries and those potential soggers on the side. It’s perfect, and we felt highly civilized devouring it. Same with the vegan falafel sandwich ($10 or $12 with fried eggplant and potatoes). You’ll have no tahini dripping down your chin here because Shawarmaji’s version is a pressed French roll. Inside, the falafels are bright green and moist and come slathered with cucumber and tomato salad, mint, purple cabbage and lemon. We could’ve eaten two of them.
DON’T MISS >>
The Liquid Halawa Shot ($3). Made with tahini and sweetened condensed milk, it is halvah in drink form, and comes garnished with crushed pistachios and Lebanese cotton candy.
PERFECT FOR … >>
The best shawarma lunch in the East Bay; a better way to eat falafel; a craveable kale salad (because it has shawarma on it); dinner for 10 bucks before walking to a show at the Paramount Theatre.
DETAILS >>
Open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; until midnight Thursday-Saturday at 478 25th St., Oakland; www.facebook.com/shawrmaji.