Lebanese specialties like kebabs and shawarma are served with rice and salad.
Photo by Maddie Spinner / Gambit
Not one but two new restaurants have opened at the corner of Royal and St. Roch streets in the Marigny.
Habibi Lebanese Grill and Wine Bar and Royal Woodfired Pizza share the space at 2483 Royal St., which has housed restaurants for decades. Silk Road closed this past summer, and before that, Schiro’s Cafe held down the corner for more than 20 years, a placeholder for the longtime corner grocery formerly run by Mary Schiro.
Habibi Lebanese Grill and Wine Bar
What
Habibi Lebanese Grill and Wine Bar / Royal Woodfired Pizza
Where
2483 Royal St., (504) 345-2660; habibilebanesegrill.com
When
Lunch and Dinner Daily
How
Dine-in
Check it out
A new Marigny spot for Lebanese food and pizza
Chef Kamil el Jaouhari is behind both concepts, along with business partner Wasim Jamhour, who is a chef and also has handled restaurant operations. Jaouhari studied culinary arts and hotel management in his hometown of Beirut, Lebanon, and he came to New Orleans in 2020 to help open Lebanon Grill on Decatur Street. Habibi Lebanese Grill is his first ownership venture.
“Every restaurant does things a certain way,” says Jaouhari, who has powered Mediterranean-themed kitchens from Las Vegas to Sao Paolo, Brazil, over the past 15 years. “Here, we make everything fresh every day.”
Jaouhari’s opening menu is full of Lebanese favorites. Hummus is served solo or with add-ons like grilled chicken, lamb or sujuk, a spicy sausage made in-house with ground lamb and beef. The creamy chickpea spread arrives in a bowl-shaped fried pita round, perfect for breaking off into crispy bits for sluicing through the garlicky dip.
There also is a Greek-style salad with feta and olives, tabbouleh bright with citrus and parsley and grilled shrimp over mixed greens.
Both chicken and gyro shawarma are sliced for sandwiches and served on pita with vegetables and tzatziki sauce. Entrees include lamb chops as well as lamb, beef and chicken kebabs, the chef’s favorite street food when he’s back home visiting family.
A mixed kebab platter, priced at $120, includes lamb, beef, ground kafta with its hint of cinnamon, sujuk sausage, shrimp and chicken, a feast that easily feeds four or five hungry diners. Entrees come with rice and salad.
Grilled salmon and shrimp are two seafood options, and there are plenty of vegetable and vegan choices as well.
Habibi is an Arabic term of endearment, used both romantically and between friends. The renovated space has tables accommodating around 80 guests inside and out. Jaouhari and Jamhour added color and a few murals to the decor. A long bar with a flatscreen TV runs along one wall.
The bar menu includes beer on draft and in cans, cocktails and wines sourced from California, France, Italy and Lebanon.
Chefs Bret Macris and Becky Brooks Macris told us about starting Shift, their ever-changing menu, and serving during the Carnival season.
With Royal Woodfired Pizza, the focus is on Neapolitan-style thin-crusted pies blistered in a large wood-burning oven. They’re keeping the opening menu tight and focused on about 10 different pizzas, along with a cheese board and salads. There is seating for about 40 on that side of the restaurant.
“It was something we thought the neighborhood needed,” Jaouhari says.
Jaouhari fell in love with New Orleans when he came to visit a friend before the pandemic. He moved his wife and now 7-year-old daughter to the city five years ago and settled on the West Bank.
“I feel the same feeling I get in Beirut here,” Jaouhari says. “Both are food cities. I love the architecture and the people.”
He’s happy to be in another food-focused city.
“Feeding people, seeing them enjoy my food, that’s what makes me happy,” he says.
Dining and Cooking