Their mothers taught them how to cook Palestinian food after geopolitical turmoil uprooted their families to the United States.
Falafel, hummus, pita and saffron rice; Makloubeh, a layered rice dish cooked in a large pot and flipped upside down; and Manakeesh, a flatbread spread with dried za’atar and olive oil.
All these recipes and more form the basis of two Mediterranean restaurants in Denver. As Palestinians live under occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, their owners use food to spread their culture abroad and bring awareness to a decades-long conflict in the Middle East.
For the most part, they’ve found support from their neighbors and customers. After decades living in Denver, they’ve also found a place to call home.
“To me, presenting the food that I grew up with was essential,” said Ibrahim Dahleh, the 67-year-old owner of Phoenician Kabob on East Colfax Avenue, who as a child lived in the West Bank as a refugee. “Especially in recent years with the attempt going on to erase the Palestinian culture and the Palestinian people.”
Owner Ibrahim Dahleh stands in front of a Palestinian flag at Phoenician Kabob in Denver on Monday, June 15, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Countries in the Fertile Crescent — Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel — share many foods, including hummus, falafel and fattoush, a salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. But Palestinian cuisine has its own unique creations, Dahleh said.
He has turned Phoenician Kabob away from purely Lebanese food over the last decade to include several Palestinian dishes, such as Makloubeh and lamb shoulder over basmati rice spiced with saffron. He hired Amera Yousef, a chef from Egypt whose father is Palestinian, to make the specials. Her tender lamb shoulder falls off the bone.
Meat combo at Phoenician Kabob in Denver on Monday, June 15, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Symbols expressing Dahleh’s heritage decorate the restaurant. They include a large Palestinian flag, a plaque that reads “No Appetite for Apartheid” and paintings dedicated to Rachel Corrie, an American activist who was killed while protecting Palestinian property from demolition by Israeli forces.
Advocating for Palestinian recognition “has been extremely difficult” in the U.S. historically, he said. The war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023 — when Hamas mounted a deadly attack on Israel — led to an uptick of support for his restaurant, he said.
Dahleh moved to the United States to finish his studies in civil engineering, met his wife and settled in Denver. He keeps the flag and plaque up to remind himself and his customers that the Palestinian struggle is a humanitarian issue with international implications.
“We are here. We are not going anywhere as Palestinians,” he said.
Phoenician Kabob is located at 5709 E. Colfax Ave., Denver
‘A hippie at heart’
Saj Fresh Grill doesn’t describe itself as explicitly serving Palestinian food. The counter service restaurant offers a spread of Mediterranean classics: fresh-baked pita and tahini, chicken and lamb skewers, tabbouleh salad, hummus and saj, a circular flatbread.
Najwa Khalaf, the owner of Saj Fresh Grill, a Mediterranean counter-service restaurant located at 2300 S. Parker Rd., Denver. (Courtesy of Najwa Khalaf)
But its owner, 56-year-old Najwa Khalaf, has made a conscious decision to share her own Palestinian background. Her parents lived in the West Bank before they fled to Canada, where she was born. They moved to Denver to join other family members when Khalaf was 2 years old, and it’s where they have lived ever since.
“We grew up with Palestinian food even though there was not that market here in Colorado,” Khalaf said from Saj Fresh Grill, which she has run since 2018. Many of the recipes she uses are her mother’s own, such as for falafel.
Some foods have deep ties to the old country, Khalaf said, like olive oil, chamomile, stuffed grape leaves and za’atar, a blend of sumac, oregano and other spices. At Saj Fresh Grill, the za’atar tops the Manakeesh.
Other Arabic words are written in script on a wall-length mural in the dining room. Khalaf translated them. “Love.” “Peace.” “Harmony.” “Community.”
“I’m kind of a hippie at heart,” she said.
A spread of dishes from Saj Fresh Grill, a Mediterranean counter-service restaurant located at 2300 S. Parker Rd., Denver. (Courtesy of Najwa Khalaf)
The last couple of years of fighting and devastation have left her “tired,” though not without action. When famine hit Gaza as a result of an Israeli blockade last year, Khalaf organized a fundraising dinner at Saj Fresh Grill to raise awareness.
She restricted her $10 meal to the 250 calories or so that many Palestinians in northern Gaza were living on at the time, according to humanitarian groups. It resulted in a tiny serving of Mujaddara, a dish consisting of lentils, beans and rice, along with some chives.
The idea was bolstered in part by her other career in welfare and social services. But it’s food that played the central role, as it does for Palestinians who traditionally cook elaborate meals meant to be shared as a group.
“At the end of the day, people want to raise their families, live in harmony and peace and be able to break bread with their neighbors, whatever their neighbors look like,” Khalaf said. “People want to live in a safe space, raise their families, just like we do here.”
Located at 2300 S. Parker Rd., Denver
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