New York Rooster & Gyro is LA's favourite New York-style Halal spot

One of many first issues Muheb “Moe” Mehirdel seen when he moved to Los Angeles in 2015 was the dearth of cart-style halal meals out there within the San Fernando Valley. On the time, the best-known restaurant serving something that felt just like this was Halal Guys, a nationwide chain that began as a cart serving a gentle stream of Muslim taxi drivers in New York Metropolis.

Whereas the Los Angeles outpost of Halal Guys had an identical menu to its New York counterpart, the style of its meals paled compared to the meals in Mehirdel's hometown of Flushing, New York, the place the vehicles halal serving meat and rice dishes, with gyros, dot virtually each block. Not liking the meals that was created and seeing a possibility to cater to the native Muslim group, Mehirdel determined to deliver his nostalgic model of New York-style halal meals to Los Angeles.

For Mehirdel, the choice to open New York Rooster & Gyro in Canoga Park was a pure one. Again in New York, his prolonged household owns a handful of halal eating places throughout the state, together with Shah's, Hamza & Madina, and Naz's. When Mehirdel's father, Habib, and brothers, Sam and Hafiz, joined him in California, the household completed work on the primary location in a storefront that was once a pizzeria. For the brand new restaurant, Mehirdel envisioned a menu that may deliver a style of Queens to the town he now referred to as residence. New York Rooster & Gyro opened its doorways in June 2017.

Three men in black branded work polo shirts with a woman in a white polo shirt in front of a menu for New York Chicken & Gyro — The Mehirdel brothers.

The recipes served on the restaurant take cues from the best-selling dishes on the New York eating places run by Mehirdel's household and the halal meals carts he frequented rising up. The menu spans dishes together with hen, lamb and falafel, which can be found as a platter with basmati rice, salad, and a selfmade white sauce or in a gyro sandwich that comes with lettuce, tomato and white sauce wrapped in pita. The restaurant additionally sells burgers, fish, crispy sizzling wings, creamy “drip” wings and hen nuggets.

To ensure that New York Rooster & Gyro to be thought of halal, the Mehirdels needed to discover suppliers that provided halal-certified meat at a worth level that may enable them to maintain the price of the dishes on the menu inexpensive. At the moment, the restaurant works with Wayne Farms and Delta Valley, which promote licensed halal merchandise along with their non-halal meat.

The rules for halal meat – “halal” interprets to “permissible” – originate within the Qur'an and govern the sorts of animals that Muslims are allowed to eat, in addition to the right slaughtering strategies. For the meat to be thought of halal, a Muslim should carry out the slaughter, the identify of Allah should be invoked, and the method should spare the animal any struggling.

Though serving licensed halal meals within the restaurant was non-negotiable, Mehirdel doesn’t see New York Rooster & Gyro as a restaurant solely for individuals who eat halal meals. As an alternative, he hopes the restaurant will supply an accessible option to introduce his meals to new communities. “We're not simply being attentive to our tradition, we're being attentive to all cultures,” says Mehirdel. “We've made positive that every one individuals get pleasure from this meals, and that's simply the way in which to deal with individuals.” Whereas halal used to refer solely to what meals have been allowed for Muslims to eat, it has since been confused with the model of dishes from halal carts in New York. Now, each are referred to below the only time period of “halal”, though the model of meals in halal carts represents solely a small phase of licensed halal meals.

The primary years of the household enterprise have been quiet: the restaurant made solely $137 within the first day and $263 within the second. As considerations about the way forward for the enterprise, Mehirdel's father instructed him and his brothers not to surrender hope. For the subsequent two years, the household constructed a neighborhood buyer base by specializing in service, holding costs inexpensive, posting on the restaurant's social media channels, and constructing relationships with regulars. Additionally they saved a detailed eye on the restaurant's Yelp web page, which maintained a five-star ranking for years.

The tide started to alter for New York Rooster & Gyro in January 2019 when Brennen Taylor, a YouTube creator, posted a video titled “Consuming At The BEST Reviewed Restaurant In My Metropolis (5 Star)” from the restaurant. The video has garnered greater than 1.5 million views. All of the sudden, the orders have been pouring in and extra back-of-house employees have been employed to maintain up with the inflow of enterprise.

With the Canoga Park restaurant on firmer monetary footing, the Mehirdels opened a second location in a West LA ghost kitchen in February 2020 simply earlier than the COVID-19 lockdowns. Whereas your entire restaurant business confronted an unsure future, the Mehirdels saved religion within the enterprise and invested $270,000 to broaden the Canoga Park location into the shop subsequent door. “We don't actually know if it should come out of COVID,” Mehirdel says. “It was a dangerous time, and we didn't know what we have been going to do if this didn't work.” Taking the chance has finally paid off for Mehirdels. New York Rooster & Gyro opened its third location in Pasadena in 2022 and one other location is deliberate for Venice.

Within the seven years since New York Rooster & Gyro first opened, choices for cart-style halal meals in Los Angeles have grown however not exponentially. Halal Guys continues to be the most important chain with seven areas throughout the town, whereas Halal Home, a restaurant serving halal dishes, opened in Northridge in 2019 and Naz's expanded to Backyard Grove, marking the primary enlargement of a enterprise halal based mostly in New York to Los Angeles since Halal Guys. However the slower tempo for halal choices hasn't forgotten Mehirdel, who sees a future the place halal dishes and tacos are served facet by facet as iconic avenue meals in Los Angeles.

“I do know, for positive, in 5 to 10 years in LA you will note halal meals in all places,” he says.

New York Rooster & Gyro is situated at 7553 Topanga Canyon Blvd Canoga Park, CA 91303, and is open from 10 am to 12 am Monday via Wednesday, and from 10 am to 2 am. The restaurant additionally has areas in Pasadena and West LA.