FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Kabab City at 1st and Nees in northeast Fresno wants to be your place for a taste of the Middle East.<\/p>\n
“We want to put out foods to show different cultures, our culture that people can experience,” says co-owner Tonny Yanni. “We like to do everything fresh and how like we like to eat it.”<\/p>\n
You’ll normally find Yanni at the Merced location, but we met him in Fresno.<\/p>\n
“We want everything to be delicious,” he said.<\/p>\n
The staff couldn’t wait to show us their chicken shawarma skewer.<\/p>\n
“We hand-cut a skinless chicken breast in the back and we season this up by hand,” Yanni said. “We actually got these skewers from Jordan, Amman. They were sent over here. They’re not very common over here. For first-time reactions, it’s awesome.”<\/p>\n
Savory spices, perfect with the pilaf and hummus.<\/p>\n
“We got our homemade hummus,” Yanni said. “We cook our garbanzo beans in house, mixed it with the tahini and it goes alongside. Hummus is everything.”<\/p>\n
You don’t just come for the kabab.<\/p>\n
“This is our chicken shawarma pizza,” Yanni said. “We have our guys come in the morning to actually make the dough from scratch. They’ll mix it up, cut it up.”<\/p>\n
Garlic sauce is drizzled on top. Traditionally, you’d call this manakish. It’s delicious by any name.<\/p>\n
That traditional oven is constantly cooking and puffing up pita bread.<\/p>\n
“Back home over there, they have similar style ovens where they make their pitas and different types of breads,” Yanni said.<\/p>\n
If you’re not sure what you want, you can always try a mix of meats.<\/p>\n
“The combo dinner will come with a skewer of our beef kabab that we make here in house,” Yanni said. “Our kafta, which is a mix of lamb and beef. It’s awesome. And then our chicken skewer.”<\/p>\n
Just rip off a piece of pita, grab a piece of meat and mix with hummus and garlic sauce and you’re all set.<\/p>\n
“It’s nice to get a meal that you are going to enjoy for the dollar that you work so hard to put out,” Yanni said.<\/p>\n
Kabab City has six Valley locations.<\/p>\n
“If you haven’t been here, we have really good food,” Yanni said. “We have a cool atmosphere, and it’ll be a nice experience to try something different.”<\/p>\n
For news updates, follow Dale Yurong on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n