Zooba goes full service in Nolita; Adds Ramy Youssef as an investor

Zooba opened in Nolita in 2019, the first Cairo-based American fast-casual restaurant offering twists on Egyptian street food. This month, the Kenmare Street business went full-service and revamped its menu with the help of a new investor, famed comedian Ramy Youssef, known for his Hulu series. executives, and more recently, its role in Poor things.

Is Zoobas koshary better than the one my mother makes? I cannot comment publicly at this time for fear of what my mother would do to me, Youssef said through a spokesperson.

This is Youssef's first foray into restaurant investments. The Egyptian-American actor became a fan of Zooba while being a customer, having even visited Zooba. during trips to Egypt. He later used the New York Zooba as a defined location for his show. (Youssef will not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the company.)

When Zooba first landed in Lower Manhattan, it was the first U.S. location of the Cairo-based Egyptian street food chain, founded by Chris Khalifa. At the time, Eater reported that the founder had raised $4 million and was planning to expand Zooba across America.

When the street food craze started, people were doing such interesting things with their respective food cultures, Khalifa told Eater at the time. But no one was doing that with Egyptian food. There was a very clear gap.

In fact, Zooba had all the attributes necessary to become the next big thing in New York fast-casual restaurants: the food was affordable, quick-service (served on trays and to-go in newspaper-style packaging), and , above all, tasty.

The interior design of the space was unlike any fast-casual the city has seen, with colorful wallpaper collages and LED light screens that made it almost look like a futuristic club distinct from the Egyptian restaurants that dot neighborhoods like Astoria or Jersey City which are home to Egyptian enclaves.

Ryan Sutton, then a critic of Eaters, called the New York business the next fast-casual staple, calling for snacks like the hawawshi, a ground meat sandwich. Just a few months after opening, it made Enjoy your foods NYC100 ranking.

Yet the restaurant, located on a prime corner just down the street from a Sweetgreen, never expanded to multiple locations in New York, stagnating since opening just before the pandemic.

Now, 100 Kenmare Street is making a bold move: transforming Zooba into a full-service restaurant, with reservations already taking place. bookable on Resy (the take-out counter will remain at the front).

For us, it was never really about being a fast-casual restaurant, it was more about advocating for the recognition of Egypt, and when we came to New York we thought that's was the right vehicle, explains Khalifa. Eating and office habits changed, things were going well, but it made them rethink things.

Overseeing the kitchen is Moustafa Elrefaey, a chef and co-founder who has worked at Zooba since 2012. Taameya (Egyptian falafel), alongside other staples, will remain, but a recently unveiled full menu focuses on prepared dishes home which, over time, they became a cornerstone of Egyptian culinary heritage: like chopped mallow leaf and chicken stew; braised lamb shank with beets, onions, peppers and mint leaves; branzino; and rosemary orange duck. The baladi bread, used for dishes like the hawawshi burger ($17), is made on site. Entrees on the new menu cost between $18 and $40. Plus, it's the only place with a wine and beer list (highlighting Middle Eastern brewers like Beer back home based here in New York). There are also zero-proof options like a hibiscus rose soda. Overall, this is an ambitious undertaking.

The team spent the better part of a year updating the dining room to make it more welcoming: adding arabesque wood carvings, reworking the layout and other design details.

It's a similar line of thinking that other fast-casual operators have grappled with. Dig, aka Dig Inn, had its well-reviewed 232 Bleecker restaurant (but it has since closed), and Inday added a branch in Williamsburg (it's making other changes to position itself beyond breakfast bowls, with a baking program at its new Soho outpost).

Abroad, Zooba continues to grow: there are 14 Zooba locations, including nine in Cairo, including inside what is considered the world's largest museum, the Grand Egyptian Museum; four in Saudi Arabia, as well as openings in Kuwait and Bahrain this year.

Zoobas' mission remains above all to create an Egyptian menu without wanting to water it down, explains Khalifa.