This Harvard Law School Alumnus Successfully Brings Shawarma And Middle Eastern Food To San Diego

JAKARTA - Growing up in San Diego, USA, Osama Shabaik longs for a trip back to Egypt, where his parents come from, where he can enjoy shawarma, falafel and all the Middle Eastern street food that Cairo has to offer.

Southern California has palm trees, ocean breezes and hundreds of taco shops to choose from. But growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a dearth of good quality Middle Eastern street food, Shabaik said.

In 2017, this Harvard Law School graduate decided to leave the promising legal path, turning his love of Middle Eastern cuisine into a new and much more determined career.

He opened Tahini Authentic Middle Eastern Street Food with his best friend, Mahmoud Barkawi.

"Tahini was born out of a desire to be able to really enjoy the shawarma and falafel we grow, when we would travel back to the Middle East to visit family," Shabaik told The National News, as quoted April 25.

Starting as a pop-up restaurant by the side of a gas station, Tahini has grown to become a brick-and-mortar restaurant serving the San Diego business community.

Located on the outskirts of town, Tahini's open-air seating and spacious interior is sprinkled with a nod to the Middle East, as are the colorful lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

The menu centers around shawarma and falafel, but customers can choose between bowls and pitas. Everything is lawful.

"We try to keep our food as close and similar as possible to what you find in the Middle East," explains Shabaik.

(Source: Instagram/@Tahini)

Like many restaurants, Tahini has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. To stay afloat, Tahini has chosen to focus on its delivery service. Two years on, customers are now slowly starting to return, even though delivery services are still the majority.

"We are blessed to have such a strong support group within the community," said Shabaik.

In 2022, Tahini was named one of the top 100 Muslim startups by The Center for Muslim Life, a Californian non-profit organization.

For Shabaik, who is quite mature in post-9/11 America, being hailed as a leader of his community is an honor.

"Tahini has really been a way in which we can present our identity in a very unapologetic way. This is who we are and we are proud of who we are."

While it may not be the career her parents envisioned when she left for law school, Tahini has allowed Shabaik to embrace her Muslim identity and Middle Eastern heritage.

"Food is a common language among all people. It doesn't matter what race, religion, where you come from, what language you speak, we all speak the language of food," he said.

"And being able to make someone smile after they eat is what I look forward to the most for us. I didn't always feel that I could get it with a law degree," says Shabaik.

Despite the pandemic, Shabaik and colleagues are thriving. They opened a coffee shop next door to Tahini and hope to open a second restaurant location in the coming months.