When you walk into the King of Falafel and Shawarma, you are greeted with aromas of garlic, onion, ginger-spiced meats and freshly fried chickpeas.
The restaurant is owned by Fares Zeideia, a 58-year-old Palestinian American. He was born in Ramallah and has worked in Astoria for over 22 years. You can easily spot him in the restaurant by his unique uniform: a King of Falafel T-shirt, pants with vegetable icons and a pair of tie-dye Crocs.
On a Saturday afternoon, a woman snapped photos of the restaurant while waiting in line for her order. She then approached Zeideia and proudly showed him her shirt designed with a Palestine logo. He gave her a high five.
The connection between food and politics
Zeideia’s restaurant, located on Broadway near the N and W train stop, unapologetically mixes food with politics. Palestinian flags whip in the wind outside the storefront, and satirical art and political stickers adorn the concrete entrance. The restaurant’s walls feature a mural depicting the escalation of violence and chaos in Gaza.
Zeideia says the connection between food and politics makes sense. “When you talk about food, you talk about everything, including politics,” he said.
These conversations happen over traditional Palestinian recipes that Zeideia enjoyed growing up. Many were passed down by his mother. His homemade crispy falafel is deep-fried and oval, not circular, which makes it distinctly Palestinian. It took Zeideia two years to perfect his falafel formula.
Other popular menu items include rotisserie chicken and lamb shawarma over yellow rice.
Leaving a war-torn home and creating a life in NYC
Zeideia left Ramallah in 1981 when he was 15 years old. He came to the U.S. to visit his father, who was a U.S. citizen. The teen expected to only stay for a few months, get his U.S. citizenship by way of his dad and go back home. But months went by and he stayed, going from job to job.
Zeida eventually realized he wanted to live in the U.S. long term. Life back home would be filled with numerous hardships.
“I got lost in the atmosphere of being in New York. I don’t think I could see myself living in Palestine anymore – I started my life here.”
He first tried working as a salesman, then in a pizza shop, followed by a stint at a stationery store and then as a taxi driver. At the stationery store, he got his nickname “Freddy,” which was easier to pronounce for the customers, and it stuck.
In 2002, he opened his first falafel cart with Esam Muhammad, who is still his business partner more than two decades later. That cart was on the corner of Broadway and 30th Street in Astoria.
“When I opened up a food cart I never thought I was gonna open up a restaurant,” he said. Zeideia loved interacting with customers on the street, but in 2014, after hearing that the space where he parked was about to undergo major construction, he began to consider a brick-and-mortar location.
Two years later, Zeideia and Muhammad opened their restaurant.
“I wanted to have Palestinian cuisine, exactly the way I grew up with,” he said. “Astoria was my home base, where I felt comfortable.” Some days, he misses just working from the kitchen of a food cart, but he’s mostly grateful to have a permanent home for his business.
In addition to the restaurant, his business expanded to four falafel trucks around the city, but he feels at home the most in Astoria. In contrast, at his cart in Midtown, he remembers being called “a terrorist” multiple times.
“I would just respond, smile and say, it’s falafel, not bombs or bullets.”
Pushing through a year of difficulties
In 2010, Zeideia’s business was crowned the winner of the Vendy Award for Best Street Food in New York. Since then, he has become more popular on social media. A video posted in April by TikTok influencer @eatingwithrobert featuring Zeideia went viral. Customers often discover the restaurant through these mediums.
Yet 2024 has been particularly difficult for Zeideia. He says that earlier this year, Israeli settlers broke into his family’s house in Ramallah and vandalized it. Then a few months later, he had a small heart attack.
As a result of that heart attack, he’s decreased his use of social media, which he says can be stressful and affect his mental and heart health. Every once in a while he gets threats via DMs to shut down his business because of his advocacy. But to him, the politics surrounding Gaza have a meaningful impact on his life in New York City.
Recently, Zeideia was fined $6,000 because a sign outside his restaurant which read “Stop the Genocide” was not the correct size. He believes he was only fined because some passersby didn’t like the messaging. Zeideia says that he plans on paying the fine and replacing the sign with a smaller one, which he estimates might cost him up to $10,000.
The business has gone up and down this year, and despite the recent uptick in Islamophobia, Zeideia says it’s rare that customers come to his business to harass him.
“My base loves me and I’ve always seen local support for the most part for Palestinians,” he says.
In fact, he’s opening a new takeout restaurant and a falafel cart in Chicago.
“I’m going to keep going because nobody’s going to take freedom of speech away from me. Because these people in Gaza – whatever happens to me is nothing compared to what is happening to them,” he says.
In the same way, he proudly wears veggie-themed pants and colorful Crocs, he wears his cultural identity on his sleeve.
“Being a Palestinian, you know, some people want me to make the falafel and shawarma the Egyptian style or Moroccan style. But I say this is a Palestinian style, and that’s how it is.”
The King of Falafel and Shawarma is located at 3015 Broadway, Astoria.
Here are the locations of additional King of Falafel food trucks:
- E 53rd St &, Park Ave, New York, NY 10022
- 31 Ditmars Blvd, Queens, NY 11105
- Bell Blvd &, 42nd Ave, Queens, NY
- 5560 Broadway, Bronx, NY 10463
Follow King of Falafel on IG @kingoffalafel and TikTok @kingoffalafelnyc.
