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the Sheraton Imperial in Raleigh, and they married there in 1989. Together they have two daughters, Ambara Kadoura and Jenin Kadoura, and a son, Zidane Kadoura. “[My wife] made everything possible,” Jamil says. “She was somebody who said, ‘I believe in what you’re going to do. I think it’s going to work.’” Angela, Jamil’s mother, Ayshi Kadoura, and his sister, How Jamil Kadoura went from running Nabila Hasan, helped him open Mediterranean Deli’s a falafel stand to owning a beloved deli, brick-and-mortar in 1991, three doors down from its bakery and catering company current West Franklin Street location. The menu By M ar ie M uir featured only a handful of Middle Eastern dishes – orn and raised in war-torn Jerusalem, Jamil Kadoura hummus, stuffed grape leaves, tabouli, baba ghanoush worked at a falafel stand outside of his school and falafel. Guests would sit in one of the deli’s 12 chairs during recess. He was paid with either a falafel or a while Jamil fried falafel outside behind the restaurant. hummus sandwich. Mediterranean Deli found a hungry That gave Jamil an idea, and and compassionate community in he suggested a new menu item – a Chapel Hill. After two years of business, the restaurant sandwich that combined both, moved to its current storefront. It initially occupied the priced 5 cents higher. The cart owner front quarter of the building, but as other tenants left, Jamil rejected the notion. But that night, expanded – six times, in fact, before he purchased the entire pany Jamil made a sign advertising it and building in 2012 – the same year he perfected his gluten-free m o C od ing Cater rranean Fod set it on the falafel cart before heading to pita bread recipe. e o Medit etarian Fo class. “Boy, everybody that came to the falafel cart that day “If anybody ever asks me what the most important Veg ordered a falafel and hummus sandwich!” he recalls. moment of my career was, it would be creating gluten-free Jamil moved to the U.S. and attended business school pita,” Jamil says. The recipe contains four gluten-free flours in Minneapolis in 1979. One of his first jobs was dishwashing at an alland took Jamil more than a year to finalize. He spent many late nights alone you-can-eat Swedish “smorgasbord” restaurant. At 21, Jamil got a job at in the kitchen, tweaking the ratios of each flour. Passersby on their way a Sheraton hotel in Raleigh. He worked for many hotels over the years, home from bars served as taste testers. eventually becoming food and beverage director at the Europa Hotel (now All recipes – whether they take one month or one year to develop – have the Sheraton Chapel Hill Hotel). Jamil met his wife, Angela Kadoura, at to pass the same final exam: the deli case test. Customers get the last word
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chapelhillmagazine.com July/August 2021