Sometimes when I’m feeling homesick I go to my favorite restaurant, Bab El Salaam. It’s run by a Palestinian man everyone calls Amo Mazen, and his wife Ammeh Sue. At home, Amo is an honorific you use for a middle aged man out of respect. Amo and Ammeh for a paternal aunt. Our maternal uncle is Khal and Khalto for our maternal aunt.
When you walk through the door you are always greeted by a server who tells you to sit where you like. Our server today was a girl named Aaliyah. I know her well. When I met her, she was a young girl who needed help getting her life together. Now she’s got her life together and she’s making it work while finishing school. I’m so proud of everything she’s become. That’s the best thing about this place, it embodies our culture so well, giving everyone a chance to really grow and flourish, while holding high expectations and standards that Amo and Ammeh know you can reach.
I don’t know if I come here more for the food, which is so amazingly delicious, or for the lilt of the voices from the kitchen. Sometimes it sounds just like home, the bustle and the sound of my own language, the tones, the volume, the laughter, it sounds like the home I grew up in, and like the life I had long ago. With the music in the background and the smells from the kitchen, I feel like I’m a child again when I’m here. I feel like I’m home. Like I belong.
I almost expect my mother to sit down at my table, light up a cigarette, and tell me she’s tired and ask me what I want to make for dinner tonight. Or my father to walk through the door and shout HEY UGLY I LOVE YOU and smack my shoulder affectionately.
And then when the food comes out, oh so much food, it’s always so perfect. I’ve never had a meal I didn’t like. The perfect sandwiches, the amazing platters, always so filling, so delicious, so perfect.
There’s nothing like that first bite of lamb kebab dipped in tuum, or the perfectly made rice, or the fattoush, so expertly dressed. Or the tabbouleh, every bite of parsley, chopped so finely.
I love this place. So much. I love every minute I’m here.
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