While falafel and kebabs might not immediately come to mind when thinking of Twin Cities' food offerings, there are actually plenty of spots offering up these Middle Eastern classics in Minneapolis and St. Paul as both platters and pita sandwiches. Fast, cheap, and filling, these traditional street foods are go-to options for diners on the move.
Whether you're a meat eater who enjoys oohing and ahhing over rotating cylinders of lamb and beef or you prefer the vegetarian-friendly fried chickpea balls, here is a handy guide the best falafel and kebabs in the Twin Cities.
Did we miss your favorite falafel or kebabs? Let us know in the comments.
Believe it or not, this small convenience store on the corner of 25th and Lyndale in Uptown is a hotspot for falafel and kebabs, which are churned out by a small kitchen just inside the door. Add some pita bread, tomatoes, lettuce, tzatziki (yogurt-cucumber sauce), and pickled jalapeño, and a delicious little meal from an unlikely location appears.
There is no need to wait for lunch at Shish Mediterranean Grill, which opens at 7 a.m. every day. Order their Shish Breakfast and be prepared to enjoy a lamb or chicken shawarma (Arabic word for kebab), two braised eggs on top of a toasted pita, potatoes, and fruit. What more does one person need? Turkish coffee maybe? Shish’s is spicy, sweet, and strong.
Marketed as an Israeli falafel, Foxy started as humble food truck and expanded to a quaint restaurant in Saint Paul’s Midway neighborhood soon after. Foxy sells traditional chickpea falafel, but they also mix it up with curry falafel and beet falafel, each as good as the next. With Foxy’s commitment to local and organic ingredients and happy hour deals like $.25 falafel balls and $1 pickle plates, this eatery is a modern addition to the Twin Cities Middle Eastern dining scene.
Abdul's Afandy is small (just 450 square feet), but that is plenty of room for owner Mohamad Abdul Ahmad to serve up falafel and shawarma to students, professors, and passersby alike. At only $3.95 for a sandwich of your choice, and nowhere to eat but outside, Abduls Afandy is Minneapolis’s version of year round street food.
Located in Dinkytown, Wally’s Falafel serves up a wide range of Middle Eastern food. This eatery’s signature dish is by far and away their falafel wrap. The wrap is served with freshly packed and deep fried falafel balls on a soft flatbread filled with lettuce, tomatoes, tahini, and hot sauce on request. Feeling ravenous? Opt for the deluxe wrap that includes fried cauliflower, eggplant, and French fries.
This list would not be complete without a nod to Black Sea, one of two Turkish restaurants in the Twin Cities. A small, cozy eatery along Snelling Avenue in Saint Paul, Black Sea has two rotating spits of meat cooking all day long. Their beef and lamb kebab are also a steal at only $5.45 each. Sip on their Turkish coffee while chowing down and that post lunch nap will be out of the picture.
A small, family-run Lebanese deli with patio seating, Zakia is great place visit on a spring day when you are craving calories and sunshine. Their deli case is packed full of Middle Eastern favorites, like baba ganoush and tabouli salad. But all the rave at Zakia’s is their falafel sandwich that comes with banana peppers to give it a little zing.
There is a reason Holy Land is a titan in the Minneapolis Middle Eastern dining scene: they serve good food at good prices. Both their falafel and kebab are tasty; make sure to order them as an Arabic-style wrap with tahini and hot sauce.
In an unassuming strip mall in Columbia Heights sits Filfillah, a full-service Turkish restaurants that helps fill Minneapolis' Turkish food void. Go ahead and try their falafel, but it will be hard to pass up a kebab when their spiced and rotating meat beckons you to devour it with every turn. Try to save room for some baklava because Filfillah makes them in little logs of honey-phyllo-dough goodness.
Believe it or not, this small convenience store on the corner of 25th and Lyndale in Uptown is a hotspot for falafel and kebabs, which are churned out by a small kitchen just inside the door. Add some pita bread, tomatoes, lettuce, tzatziki (yogurt-cucumber sauce), and pickled jalapeño, and a delicious little meal from an unlikely location appears.
There is no need to wait for lunch at Shish Mediterranean Grill, which opens at 7 a.m. every day. Order their Shish Breakfast and be prepared to enjoy a lamb or chicken shawarma (Arabic word for kebab), two braised eggs on top of a toasted pita, potatoes, and fruit. What more does one person need? Turkish coffee maybe? Shish’s is spicy, sweet, and strong.
Marketed as an Israeli falafel, Foxy started as humble food truck and expanded to a quaint restaurant in Saint Paul’s Midway neighborhood soon after. Foxy sells traditional chickpea falafel, but they also mix it up with curry falafel and beet falafel, each as good as the next. With Foxy’s commitment to local and organic ingredients and happy hour deals like $.25 falafel balls and $1 pickle plates, this eatery is a modern addition to the Twin Cities Middle Eastern dining scene.
Abdul's Afandy is small (just 450 square feet), but that is plenty of room for owner Mohamad Abdul Ahmad to serve up falafel and shawarma to students, professors, and passersby alike. At only $3.95 for a sandwich of your choice, and nowhere to eat but outside, Abduls Afandy is Minneapolis’s version of year round street food.
Located in Dinkytown, Wally’s Falafel serves up a wide range of Middle Eastern food. This eatery’s signature dish is by far and away their falafel wrap. The wrap is served with freshly packed and deep fried falafel balls on a soft flatbread filled with lettuce, tomatoes, tahini, and hot sauce on request. Feeling ravenous? Opt for the deluxe wrap that includes fried cauliflower, eggplant, and French fries.
This list would not be complete without a nod to Black Sea, one of two Turkish restaurants in the Twin Cities. A small, cozy eatery along Snelling Avenue in Saint Paul, Black Sea has two rotating spits of meat cooking all day long. Their beef and lamb kebab are also a steal at only $5.45 each. Sip on their Turkish coffee while chowing down and that post lunch nap will be out of the picture.
A small, family-run Lebanese deli with patio seating, Zakia is great place visit on a spring day when you are craving calories and sunshine. Their deli case is packed full of Middle Eastern favorites, like baba ganoush and tabouli salad. But all the rave at Zakia’s is their falafel sandwich that comes with banana peppers to give it a little zing.
There is a reason Holy Land is a titan in the Minneapolis Middle Eastern dining scene: they serve good food at good prices. Both their falafel and kebab are tasty; make sure to order them as an Arabic-style wrap with tahini and hot sauce.
In an unassuming strip mall in Columbia Heights sits Filfillah, a full-service Turkish restaurants that helps fill Minneapolis' Turkish food void. Go ahead and try their falafel, but it will be hard to pass up a kebab when their spiced and rotating meat beckons you to devour it with every turn. Try to save room for some baklava because Filfillah makes them in little logs of honey-phyllo-dough goodness.
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