The Beauty of Basics: How Falafel Ave Mastered the Art of the Chickpea

Mohamed Alhilalat focuses on making authentic Jordanian falafel the same way In-N-Out focuses on burgers: through consistency and by using high-quality, fresh ingredients. He feels that no other place can match his falafel-making techniques. And after trying, he might be right.

“I chose falafel because I’ve been almost 33 years in this country, and until now, nobody has been doing falafel the exact way they’re supposed to be doing it,” Alhilalat says.

Alhilalat has opened many restaurants over the years, and more recently was an HVAC technician before quitting that to open Falafel Ave with his business partner, Ridha Barish. This venture is closest to his heart because it was built from the ground up by his family, right down to the wooden benches.

Built from Scratch

“We built this restaurant from scratch,” Alhilalat says. “We tore down the concrete, we built the hood, we did the grease trap, the pipes, we cleaned everything, we threw the trash away. That really makes me proud of the time we spent building this.”

Falafel is known to be an affordable, labor-intensive meal. Alhilalat has made it the focus of his menu because he’s confident he’s perfected his recipe and cooking method. His falafel is a mix of chickpeas, parsley, cilantro, onion, hot green peppers and garlic shaped into walnut-sized balls, then fried using his “TT” method (right temperature, right time); otherwise, it doesn’t cook right.

The signature menu item is the falafel wrap, and the eatery is set up in an assembly-line style, allowing customers to build their own wrap. They often add new items to the line while maintaining traditional options like hummus, tomato, cucumber, tahini, chickpeas, pickles, jalapeños, lettuce, spicy sauces and more. Alhilalat even makes a secret sauce, which is basically garlic sauce, but with his own special touch.

“Falafel for us is like a morning, evening and afternoon thing,” Alhilalat says. “You could eat it anytime. You could buy it and leave it for a second day, and it doesn’t go bad. Even sometimes when you eat it cold, it tastes much better.”

The Menu: Beyond Veggies

The menu is relatively simple, with six different combos that can be ordered, like a falafel wrap with your choice of fries (Ave 1), small salad (Ave 2), baklava (Ave 3), choice of appetizer (Ave 4), a second wrap (Ave 5 and the most popular) or choice of soup (Ave 6) — each for $14.99.

But not everyone in the area is looking for falafel as their main course, so Alhilalat has recently expanded the menu to include meat-based plates, like chicken shawarma wraps filled with savory garlic sauce and crunchy pickles.

“It was a chance for the people to run away a little bit from meat,” Alhilalat says. “This was my goal in the beginning, because back home we can’t afford to eat meat every day, but falafel, we could eat it anytime. The problem is I didn’t have enough clients to do that, and it’s not really covering my bills right now.”

So they added gyro, roast chicken, kofta kebab, lamb kebab, chicken kebab and a lamb burger. Despite the additions, his daughter Danya assures that falafel will remain at the forefront.

The Falafel Promise

“Falafel will always be number one; it’s in the name and forever has to be the main focus,” Danya says. “It’s not a hard thing to stay consistent with, and it’s very easy to master; as long as we have the right ingredients, then falafel will always be here.”

A lot of hard work went into Falafel Ave, and Alhilalat and his family are truly the best part about it. Not only will you have a new appreciation for falafel done well, but you’ll leave having made a new connection. Hospitality comes naturally here, and despite ongoing heart problems and other age-related health issues, Alhilalat continues to stay open and cook.

“I’m so proud of him; he’s the hardest-working person I know,” Danya says. “I think about everything that he has done just to get slightly comfortable, and I know for a fact that he has been through dirt just to get to where he is right now. He still wants to keep going; he’s always trying to get better, and he always wants the best for my family, so I look up to him a lot.”

Falafel Ave, 757 S MacArthur Blvd (Coppell); Sunday – Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.