The man behind the 13-year-old food truck King of Falafel and Shwarma announced that he’ll be opening a brick-and-mortar store in Astoria this Saturday.
The food truck, which opened in April 2002, serves chicken and beef shwarma, falafel, several combination platters and soup. Freddy Zeideia won a Vendy Award in 2010 for his creations and will serve that and more at his 30-15 Broadway location.
Zeideia was not immediately available for comment, but according to published reports, his restaurant will seat approximately 30 guests. Zeideia posted a menu of his restaurant specials on the eatery’s Facebook page and they include beef okra, kefta casserole, and a chicken, lemon and potatoes casserole, among others.
The restaurant will also serve a King of Falafel burger with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, akwawai cheese, zattar (dry thyme with sumac), pickled turnips and a tahini sauce.
His food truck, which has temporarily moved to 31st Street and Broadway due to construction, will continue to operate.
Zeideia posted pictures of the restaurant’s evolution as he started construction in August. The exterior of the store includes headlights to resemble the front of his food truck. A photo of the exterior garnered 211 likes on Facebook with many congratulating the King of Falafel on his success.
“Wow you should all be so proud of all your hard work, cold days, rainy days, tanks freezing and all of that has lead to this!!” Ninny N Ivey wrote in a Facebook post. “Congratulations you all deserve it. I can’t wait until it is open!!!”
