Ayat, the New York-based Palestinian restaurant chain, is planning to open its first Philadelphia location in Center City, writes Michael Klein for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The planned location is the former Roxy Theater on Sansom Street, three blocks from Rittenhouse Square. 

Once opened, it will be the only self-identified Palestinian restaurant in Center City, and one of the few in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Owner Abdul Elenani hopes to open the Philly location within a year, which will be the seventh Ayat location.

Its first location was opened in Brooklyn, New York, in late 2020.

Beyond its Palestinian dishes like mansaf (a lamb stew served with saj and rice) and maklouba (a six-layer, upside-down chicken and vegetable dish), Ayat is also known for being outspoken about its politics.

In fact, Elenani was heavily inspired to open a Palestinian restaurant “to communicate the occupation and what’s happening there to people that are closed off from the rest of the world.”

Two days after the October 7 attack that killed over 1,200 Israelis and instigated a war that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, Ayat issued a call to “end apartheid.”

The attention has been both positive and negative, but Ayat’s profile continues to grow.

Read more about the addition of Ayat to Philly’s food scene at The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

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