“I’ve been waiting all my life to open my own place,” says Moe Shalabi, owner (with his wife, Fidaa) of the new sandwich shop in Lamp Post Plaza, Pita King. It’s not as long-deferred a dream as it sounds: he’s only thirty years old. But he’s already spent more than half of it working in restaurants, starting at Arby’s when he was fourteen and then moving to Star’s Cafe in Westgate, where he’s been for eleven years.
“We’re restaurant people, we know how to do things,” smiles Moe’s chef and aunt, Intisar Shalabi, bustling around the kitchen, explaining how they could so quickly turn around the Roly Poly that stood there. Moe’s father is the accountant for King’s Keyboard across the street (and at one time owned restaurants around the country but none in Ann Arbor), and Moe has warm memories of the Roly Poly. “I kept the floor. I love it”–a striking red-and-blue diamond pattern, though he found the yellow and green walls a little too striking. “I painted them white. I like a simple look.”
Star’s Cafe, Moe’s former employer, was in fact named after his aunt, whose nickname is “Star.” Intisar and her husband Jalal Shalabi were the original owners of Star’s Cafe, though they’ve since sold it. In mid-January, Star and Moe moved efficiently around the kitchen of their brand new restaurant as if they’d been there for years, bracing for the lunch rush. “She does the soups, the mujaddara. I’m more the sandwich-making guy. We use organic chicken which has no added hormones or preservatives,” he adds.
Pita King, 2412 E. Stadium (Lamp Post Plaza), 677-0686. Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed Sun. pitakingannarbor.com
