For the Love of Falafel
New Middle Eastern restaurant parks Lebanese street food in Plano
A new Middle Eastern restaurant is opening in Plano with a cool little street edge. Called Board Bites, it describes its menu as "Lebanese street food," and will open in February on Avenue K at Spring Creek Parkway, just east of US-75.
Co-owner Mohamad Ballout says it's his first restaurant venture, but he and his family have recipes and flavors from their native Lebanon that he promises will be special.
"The chef is my cousin, he just moved here recently, and he has a good approach in the kitchen," Ballout says. "It's all going to be made in-house daily from scratch, and we're using good ingredients."
Named for the wooden boards on which the food is served, Board Bites' menu includes Middle-Eastern staples such as hummus, tabbouleh, and fatthoush salad. The "street food" part summons what you migh find on the streets of Lebanon, he says.
"We have sandwiches you might find on the street from a great hole in the wall," he says. "They're like our tacos."
Options include chicken shawarma, beef, kafta aka ground beef, and falafel. If you don't want them in a sandwich format, you can get them in a trendy rice bowl instead.
Their location is a former clothing shop which they retrofitted with a kitchen and gave it a modern-industrial decor. The service model is fast-casual, and he says they're using compostable containers.
"They call Lebanon 'The Paris of the Middle East,'" Ballout says. "Our food has a unique taste; it has that little touch."
