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Astoria's 'King of Falafel' to Open Long-Awaited Restaurant This Month

By Jeanmarie Evelly | January 21, 2016 4:07pm | Updated on January 22, 2016 5:29pm
 The menu at King of Falafel and Shawarma includes specially-spiced falafel served over basmati rice and salad.
The menu at King of Falafel and Shawarma includes specially-spiced falafel served over basmati rice and salad.
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DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly

ASTORIA — The owner behind the famed King of Falafel and Shawarma food truck will open his brick-and-mortar eatery later this month.

The long-awaited restaurant will open Jan. 30, according to an update on its Facebook page. It will be located at the former Chirping Chicken space at 30-15 Broadway, near 31st Street — just a block from its longtime street cart location.

"Okay the date is set," the post on the restaurant's Facebook page reads.

Owner Fares Zeideia, known to customers as Freddy, has been serving his Middle Eastern food from a cart or truck for more than a decade, earning a steady legion of regulars as well as a Vendy Award in 2010.

He's been working to open his own restaurant for the last few years, and previously told DNAinfo that the brick-and-mortar would serve some of same items as the truck, including its falafel and shawarma.

Astoria Falafel King Expanding to Supermarkets
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DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly

It will also offer items like charcoal-grilled kabobs, Middle Eastern salads and dips like hummus, baba ganoush and tabouli, he said.

Zeideia did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the opening. But photos posted to the restaurant's Facebook page show the outside of the storefront eatery has been decorated to look like the front of his iconic green truck.

He's said the truck will continue to operate after the restaurant opens. Because of construction at its longtime site on Broadway and 30th Street, its currently parked a block away on 31st Street, according to a Facebook update.