Photography By Karlo Gesner
Levant Mediterranean Cuisine is a Palestinian kitchen located in York. Owned by the Alshalabi family, Levant is bringing Palestinian flavors to an area where few hot spots to enjoy Mediterranean cooking exist.
The restaurant's head chef, Randa Alshalabi, learned how to cook watching her mother move around their home kitchen. In the years since, Randa has become the unofficial cook in the family, often preparing delicious dishes for the tight-knit family’s large gatherings.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
“She has great taste in food,” her brother-in-law, Nidal Alshalabi, says, recalling the rave reviews Randa’s homemade dishes would receive. “Everyone was pushing her hard to invest in this business.”
With her family behind her, Randa now cooks authentic Palestinian dishes at Levant, prepared with fresh ingredients and served with warm hospitality, always aiming to invite customers into “a culinary journey that will delight [their] senses.”
Photography By Karlo Gesner
The restaurant’s name nods to the owners’ Arabic roots, with Levant translating to “the land where the sun rises” or “the eastern place.” The Levant is also a geographic area known to encompass the Eastern Mediterranean Region including Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Turkey and Jordan.
Each dish on Levant’s menu features fresh vegetables, meats and Arabic spices from a local Middle Eastern market in York.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
“I love every single thing she makes here. …I never had falafels taste the way Randa’s falafel [tastes],” Nidal says, pointing out the topselling items on the restaurant’s menu, including the yelnji, an appetizer of grape leaves stuffed with vegetables that has become a customer favorite. “70% of tables order yelnji. …We run out of it all the time.”
Photography By Karlo Gesner
The team at Levant prides themselves on serving distinctly Palestinian main dishes like musakhan—a fragrant dish of chicken, red onions, sumac and fried almonds—and moussaka, a flavorful dish of eggplant, tomato sauce and beef served alongside rice. In addition to the array of main dishes, Levant’s menu offers popular appetizers like hummus and housemade seasoned fries, salads like tabboula and fattoush, falafel and lamb liver sandwiches and Palestinian pastries—each section packed with bites that invite guests to savor fresh Mediterranean flavors.
“Our food is unique and delicious and rich of flavors and [seasoning]. … It’s very healthy and light. It’s not unhealthy, and it’s cooked fresh as well,” Nidal says. “Randa does all the cooking, even making the bread.”
Photography By Karlo Gesner
Though Randa always cooked for her family, Levant is her first experience cooking professionally. While she leads the way, the restaurant is a family affair for the Alshalabis as they begin a new life for themselves after escaping the ongoing conflict in their homeland. While on a trip to visit Nidal in Pennsylvania, Randa, her husband Azzam, and their daughter Rama were forced to remain in the States as conflict escalated in Palestine.
“Our country does not have a stable status of safety. What keeps us going is the reality, in life, nothing comes for free. That's the best, or the biggest, motivation,” Nidal says. “They need to live and survive and have a better life. They left everything behind. My brother left his business that he’d been building for 19 years.”
Nidal says it's not been easy adjusting to an entirely different life for the family.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
“It’s tough at some points, but we don’t regret it at all," he continues, adding that when most people think of coming to the States, they have a dream. "We call this country [a] dreamland country, but you have to work for your dream, to work hard. Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
The restaurant is proud to represent the rich flavors of Palenstine, and the Alshalabi family is appreciative of how the York community has supported and encouraged Levant's growth.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
We get a lot of compliments and comments from customers that they are happy, and they are always supporting us and pushing us to get bigger,” Nidal says. “We have a dream to do so, but everything will fall in the right place at the right time.”
To try Levant Mediterranean Cuisine for yourself, visit the restaurant in downtown York, or place an order online with Uber Eats.
Levant Mediterranean Cuisine
101 South Duke St, York | Instagram: @levantkitchen
