December - Syrian Kitchen

Syrian Kitchen is now open! Former CRIS clients Muhammad Khalifa and his family opened the first Syrian-specific restaurant in Columbus.

Cooking is not new to Muhammad. Much to their enjoyment, Muhammad began preparing three-course meals for his family at only age 10. Influenced by two generations of farmers, Muhammad's appreciation for farm-to-table ingredients grew with him while pursuing a career as a chef. At fourteen, Muhammad began working at the restaurant Set Elsham in Cairo to help alleviate his family's financial stress. He climbed his way up to becoming a chef charged with producing an average of 1,000 orders a day.

After CRIS resettled the Khalifa family in 2017, opening a Syrian-inspired restaurant made sense to Muhammad. His family and passion for cooking serve as the inspiration for his cuisine. His creations are built from memories of cooking by his mother's side and shopping with his father in Cairo's open-air markets.

To Muhammad, cooking is a spiritual dance between intuition and fresh ingredients; it demands your entire being. Those who watch him in the kitchen can only describe his art in the Arabic term, "Nafas"- how he sees, touches, and connects with his ingredients. His meticulous attention to detail when presenting food is derived from a Syrian belief that eyes eat before the stomach. Joy is the word Muhammad uses when talking about cooking. That joy, or "Maraa," is clearly present in Syrian Kitchen's atmosphere.

Syrian Kitchen is located at 2630 BIllingsely road, Columbus, OH 43235

Check out their delicious menu here.