December 31, 2017

The Weekly Bite: fufu’s mideast grill in Mission Grove

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RestaurantInterviews

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mission Grove’s fufu’s mideast grill.

So let’s start at the beginning – how’d you get into the restaurant business?
I am a Lebanese American, born and raised in Detroit but moved to Riverside in 1988 to open a Little Caesars Pizza. Even after expanding to own and operate 156 stores around the country. So I have been in the restaurant business for quite some time. For years my family and I have dreamed about opening up a Lebanese restaurant. We would invite friends, family, and business associates over for dinners to get their opionions and their honest feedback. The feedback we recieved on the food was truly exciting. They would always want to be invited over again and ask for recipes. When we knew we were finally ready to get Fufu’s open, I flew out my nephews Hassan and Rabeh from Michigan, got my wife Iman, Son Allie, and Daughter Sarah together and we went over our game plan, got our receipes together, and made our move.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced over the years?
It was not easy due to the fact that a lot of people were not aware of what Lebanese food was until recently. I had to delay my launch until I thought the awareness was more out there. Plus as any business owner knows, getting the place open in general is not a walk in the park. I have been in the restaraunt business before but it was my families first time really being hands on for everything. It was a learning process for all of us and of course we faced many challenges. This food is not your typical., all of our food is made to order. From the prepping to the cooking, to even how we our going to serve the food out took careful and long hours of thinking and brain storming together. Most of our customers have not tried or even heard of Mediterranean food, so even just explaining the food customers and getting them to just give us a shot was a challenge. But we all put our heads together and that is how we overcame these challenges as a family.

What stands out about fufu’s mideast grill?
We have original Lebanese and we put 100% into every item we offer. We get the best quality meats, chicken, vegetables, etc. There aren’t many Lebanese places around which also makes our food hard to find. We have our own special recipes and marinations which is what makes us stand out and different from other lebanese restauarants. Also that our food is made to order. You will never receive anything other than a pita bread fresh out of the oven. Our pita wraps are also made with our fresh bread which you also will not find anywhere else

Most Popular Items

Chicken Kabob Plate

Chicken Kabob Skewers with grilled green peppers
With rice, a fresh pita bread and your choice of two sides
Dietary: Halaal
Chicken Shawarma Pita Wrap

Chicken shawarma pita wrapped made with our fresh bread, with green pickles, tomatoes, and our garlic sauce
Dietary: Halaal